CENTRAL JERSEY: EW man sentenced for computer crime

By Vic Monaco, Managing Editor
    TRENTON — One of three East Windsor men charged with scrawling anti-
Semitic and profane graffiti on monuments and streets signs in the township, Hightstown and Roosevelt will be subject to three years of probation and be required to make full restitution.
    Nicholas Kurahara was accepted into a pre-trial intervention program Thursday, according to Mercer County Prosecutor’s spokeswoman Casey DeBlasio. In addition to the probation, she said, he must attend diversity training and perform 150 hours of community service, split between East Windsor and Hightstown. The restitution, she added, is expected to exceed $1,500.
    Mr. Kurahara, Nikolai Afanassenkov and Max Drazdik, all recent graduate of Hightstown High School, were charged in February 2008 with bias intimidation and bias-based criminal mischief.
    Pre-indictment conferences like the one held Thursday are used to bring cases to early resolution, especially for defendants, like the three in question, who have little or no prior criminal record. The two other men are expected in court next week.
    The three men are accused of, in January 2008, drawing a 1-square-foot swastika on the newly erected fountain at The Point in Hightstown; hateful graffiti on the memorial statue of former President Franklin D. Roosevelt, two street signs, and the post office in Roosevelt; and another swastika on Etra Road in East Windsor.
    They turned themselves into police soon after being charged.
    The acts sparked outrage in the three communities and more than 100 people gathered at The Point for a candlelight protest vigil shortly after the incidents.