NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. — A person accused of vandalizing an Islamic center at New Jersey’s flagship college at the Muslim vacation of Eid-al-Fitr has been charged with a hate crime, federal prosecutors introduced Monday.
Jacob Beacher, 24, of North Plainfield, faces unmarried counts of intentional or tried obstruction of non secular apply and making false statements to federal government. He used to be scheduled to make his preliminary court docket look Monday afternoon and used to be being represented via the federal public defender’s workplace, which doesn’t touch upon circumstances.
The fees stem from an April 10 break-in at the Center for Islamic Life at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. Prosecutors stated Beacher broken assets at the website online, together with a number of spiritual artifacts and a large number of different pieces that contained holy language from the Quran, Islam’s sacred scripture. Authorities stated Beacher additionally stole a Palestinian flag and a charity field belonging to the center.
The total harm has been estimated at $40,000. Beacher isn’t affiliated with Rutgers, officers stated.
The website online used to be unoccupied when the break-in befell round 2:40 a.m., prosecutors stated. A purpose has now not been disclosed.
While talking with the FBI two days after the break-in, Beacher stated he used to be the individual noticed close to the center in video surveillance photos however denied breaking into the website online.
The incident got here a couple of weeks after the state lawyer normal’s workplace had reported a recent spike in bias incidents in New Jersey.
The New Jersey bankruptcy of the Council on American-Islamic Relations stated it welcomed the charges, including that the vandalism is an instance of “bigoted violence” that Muslim, Palestinian and allied scholars are dealing with on faculty campuses around the nation.
Officials with the Islamic center stated they have been “humbled by the amazing and generous outpouring from the Rutgers community and the community at large” for the reason that break-in.