Graffiti desecration of cemetery entrance
GOSHEN – The Orange County grand jury has indicted an 18-year-old
Warwick man on two counts of tampering with physical evidence and conspiracy
as a hate crime, all as felonies in connection with anti-Semitic graffiti
spray-painted at the Beth Shalom Jewish Cemetery in the Town of Warwick.
State and Warwick Town Police have been investigating the damage to the
cemetery that occurred in the early morning hours of October 9, 2016 when
swastikas, the words “Heil Hitler” and Nazi “SS”
symbols were spray-painted on the walls and headstones in the cemetery.
The three-count indictment alleges that Eric Carbanaro participated in
a conspiracy to damage property at the cemetery by spray-painting the
anti-Semitic symbols and messages and acted with others to destroy evidence
of the crime by deleting images and other information about the discretion
that was on the cell phones belonging to two other co-conspirators.
The indictment alleges that between October 9, 2016 and June 19, 2017,
“one of the co-conspirators deleted a ‘meme’ that read
‘secretly spray painted Jewish cemetery and gets away with it’,”
while at Carbanaro’s home.
It is also alleged that Carbanaro and a co-conspirator believed the evidence
was about to be used in an official or prospective official proceeding
and intended to prevent the use and “did suppress it by any act
of concealment, alteration or destruction, or by employing force, intimidation
or deception against any person.”
The grand jury indictment also accuses Carbanaro of conspiracy as a hate
crime for agreeing “with one or more persons to engage in or cause
the performance of such conduct and intentionally committed the act or
acts constituting the offense in whole or in substantial part because
of a belief or perception regarding the race, color, national origin,
ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability, or sexual
orientation of a person, regardless of whether the belief or perception
was correct.”
The indictment said, “It was the object of the conspiracies to spray
paint anti-Semitic graffiti and thus causes damage to the Beth Shalom
Cemetery and then to further conceal certain physical evidence related
to the investigation of the anti-Semitic graffiti at the Beth Shalom Cemetery
by deleting digital images and other data from cellular telephones and
to provide false information to the police regarding the incident.”
District Attorney David Hoovler expected Carbanaro to turn himself in
to State Police on Tuesday.
“There is no room for this type of hateful desecration of religious
property here in Orange County,” Hoovler said. “These anti-Semitic
symbols and messages do not reflect the values of the overwhelming majority
of Orange County and Warwick residents.”
He said the investigation is continuing.
“Prejudice of any kind cannot and will not be tolerated in Orange
County,” said County Executive Steven Neuhaus, “Hate crimes
are offensive on every level and hurt not just the victims, but the entire
community. This indictment sends the message that this type of behavior
is unacceptable and will not be tolerated.”
