(JTA) — A New Jersey man was sentenced to 15 months in prison for carving a swastika into the lawn of his neighbors’ home.
The sentence handed down Friday in state Superior Court came about one year after Scott Cooney, 36, was arrested and charged with bias intimidation. His two neighbors in an adult housing development in Lakewood had watched as Cooney carved the swastika into their front lawn.
Cooney had pleaded guilty in June.
One of the neighbors is Jewish, according to the Asbury Park Press.
Prior to the swastika, Cooney had threatened the two men for several months with anti-Semitic and anti-gay slurs, according to prosecutors.
Though Cooney had been ordered to have no contact with the neighbors, he wrote threatening letters to them while in jail awaiting sentencing, which led to an increase in the time of his sentence.
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