A Morris County man has been criminally charged with a bias crime as the result of threatening comments he made at a Jersey Shore shul last Friday, Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Lori Linskey announced Monday.
Nicholas Skirvin, 44, of Denville is charged with second-degree Bias Intimidation, third-degree Making Terroristic Threats, and Harassment, a petty disorderly persons offense.
Members of the Deal Police Department responded to the Ohel Yaacob Shul at the corner of Lawrence Avenue and Ocean Avenue North at approximately 1 p.m. on Friday, July 15 on a report of an unknown person recording himself with a cell phone while making obscene gestures and screaming profanity-laced ethnic and homophobic slurs and threats at synagogue congregants.
A fast-moving investigation resulted in Skirvin being identified as a suspect in the case, and he was arrested by members of the Deal Police Department on a beach in nearby Asbury Park later the same afternoon. He was subsequently transported to the Monmouth County Correctional Institution (MCCI) pending a detention hearing that is now tentatively scheduled to take place on Monday, July 25, before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Paul Escandon.
The State is filing a motion to keep Skirvin detained pending the outcome of the
case.
“The hate-filled rhetoric heard last Friday in what is typically a peaceful
neighborhood with a tight-knit Jewish community wasn’t just abhorrent and disturbing
– it was criminal,” Acting Prosecutor Linskey said. “The charges being announced
today should send a clear message that we take such conduct with the utmost
seriousness. There is no place for hate in Monmouth County – especially when it is the
motive behind a crime.”