NEW YORK (JTA) — A New Brunswick, N.J., man who was charged in the vandalism of several Jewish-owned shops in nearby Highland Park reportedly is Jewish.
Richard M. Green, 52, was charged with numerous counts of bias intimidation and criminal mischief for allegedly smashing the windows of five Jewish-owned businesses. The vandalism took place at the end of November and Green was arrested Nov. 30.
According to the New Jersey Jewish News, Green’s face was familiar to owners of Jewish establishments and institutions. Green also has been identified by authorities as the person who allegedly accosted a kipah-wearing Rutgers University student in a Dunkin Donuts on Nov. 30.
Andrew Getraer, the Rutgers Hillel’s executive director, said that Green was Jewish and “known to be mentally ill and has been treated for his mental illness,” the newspaper reported.
“We’ve met this individual,” Rabbi Yosef Carlebach, executive director of the Chabad House Lubavitch of Central and Southern New Jersey, told the New Jersey Jewish News. “We’ve had some recent experience with him. It’s really a very sad story of someone who appears to be mentally deranged. We communicated that to law enforcement. We left it to the police to do their work. We told anyone who called that we contacted law enforcement and have a handle on it.”
