Man Charged With Hate Crime After Destructive Break-In at Islamic Center
The New York Times
Jacob Beacher is accused of stealing a Palestinian flag and causing $40,000 in damage to religious artifacts at Rutgers University during the Eid-al-Fitr holiday.
A New Jersey man was charged on Monday with a federal hate crime after a Palestinian flag was stolen and $40,000 worth of damage was done to religious artifacts at an Islamic student center at Rutgers University during the Eid-al-Fitr holiday, officials said.
The man, Jacob Beacher, is accused of breaking into the Center for Islamic Life at the main Rutgers campus in New Brunswick, N.J., this month, vandalizing Turbah prayer stones, and stealing a charity box and the flag.
The Rutgers episode and the arrest of Mr. Beacher, 24, come as tensions over the Israel-Hamas war continue to fester on university campuses across the United States, where Muslim and Jewish students alike have complained of feeling that they are under attack.
Mr. Beacher, of North Plainfield, was charged in a criminal complaint with one count of intentional or attempted obstruction of religious practice and one count of making false statements to the federal authorities. He was ordered detained after an initial appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge André M. Espinosa of Federal District Court in Newark.
A federal public defender representing Mr. Beacher did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A Rutgers spokeswoman, Megan Schumann, said in an emailed statement that the university “condemns this act of violence against the Rutgers-New Brunswick Muslim community and the desecration of a religious and community space.” She said there was no record of Mr. Beacher’s having attended the university.
