Vandals hit Jewish learning center under construction

Vandals hit Jewish learning
center under construction

Police seek suspects;

JWV offers reward

for information

By dave benjamin

Staff Writer

A Jewish learning center under construction on Pine Brook Road, Manalapan, was the target of one or more vandals in the hours between Saturday night and Sunday morning.

Police officers were called to the Jewish Learning Center of Monmouth County on Sunday morning after receiving a call regarding an incident of criminal mischief in which swastikas were found to have been spray-painted on the building and a sign.

"The incident was reported shortly after 7 a.m. Sunday by a resident of Manalapan who is affiliated with the learning center," said Manalapan Police Capt. Michael Rumola. "The resident said he was driving past the learning center and noticed the front sign to be damaged."

Rumola said that when the man investigated, he discovered the sign had been knocked down and a swastika had been spray-painted over a picture of a torah. The captain said the resident also noticed structural damage to a support post for the building.

"It appears some type of sledgehammer or heavy object caused the damage," the captain said. "Additional swastikas were discovered to have been spay-painted on a rear wall of the learning center."

Police said the damage occurred sometime between 10 p.m. Aug. 18 and 7 a.m. Aug. 19.

Commenting on the crime, Mayor Mary Cozzolino told the News Transcript on Monday, "This is a particularly horrendous action. It shocks me that this kind of hatred still exists. It’s certainly nothing that this community condones. It’s intolerable, and it certainly has no place in Manalapan."

Members of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Bias Crime Unit and Manalapan Detective Robert Fausak are investigating the incident.

Rumola said this is the fifth bias incident reported in Manalapan in 2001. Of the other four, one was unfounded; one occurred in February (a random terroristic telephone call was reported; no arrest was made, and there were no details as to the religion or race of the victim); one was in April (a juvenile made a terroristic threat and an arrest was made; there were no details as to the religion or race of the victim); and one occurred in June (a swastika was placed on a residence in the area of Apache Drive, off Pease Road, no arrest has been made).

In the past, desecration incidents have occurred in the township. On Oct. 18, 1984, swastikas and anti-Semitic slurs were painted on Temple Beth Shalom, Route 522, and a piece of construction equipment was driven through a back wall of the synagogue which was under construction. In the early 1970s, several homes in the Yorktowne development off Gordons Corner Road, behind Congregation Sons of Israel, had swastikas painted on them.

The police department considers these incidents serious and is committed to extending whatever resources are available to bring those responsible to justice, said Rumola.

Anyone with information about the weekend incident on Pine Brook Road should call Detective Robert Fausak at (732) 446-8387. All information will be kept confidential.

In a statement released Monday, the members of the Jewish War Veterans Manalapan-Marlboro Post 972 said they have authorized the post’s commander, Allen Falk, to offer a reward of $250 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of all those involved in the Aug. 18-19 desecration and damage to the Jewish Learning Center. The JWV is asking anyone with information about the crime to call the Manalapan Police Department.

In its statement, the JWV said the former combat soldiers of the post are angry about this anti-Jewish vandalism in Western Monmouth County and said they would do all in their power to help the police and the prosecutor’s office bring the perpetrators to justice.

The JWV Manalapan-Marlboro post urged the other 10 JWV posts in the local JWV County Council to take similar action to bring the perpetrators to justice.