NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A Queens man suspected of etching swastikas on Queens streets over a half-dozen times, including outside a synagogue and a police precinct house, was busted on hate crime charges Monday.
Antoine Blount, 34, of Forest Hills, has been charged with nine counts of aggravated harassment and three counts of misdemeanor criminal mischief as a hate crime after a tip led to his arrest.
Blount allegedly struck in front of Stephen A. Halsey Junior High School, the Reform Temple of Forest Hills and the 112th Precinct stationhouse. He vandalized at night and during the day, police said.
He most recently struck last Friday, police said, when two swastikas were etched on the sidewalk outside Queens College on Kissena Boulevard sometime between 1 a.m. and 10 a.m. (It was not on the campus, as previously reported, though.)
His spree came as antisemitic incidents were up 39% in New York state in 2022, according to the latest report by the Anti-Defamation League.
There were 580 incidents in New York state in 2022, compared to 416 incidents in 2021. Numbers rose across all categories, including harassment, vandalism and assault. Most of them occurred in Manhattan and Brooklyn.
The ADL is now teaming up with Jewish Federations in New York and New Jersey to form a Jewish Security Alliance.
"We're all working in concert and we're also not conflicting with one another," said Scott Richmond, regional director of the ADL. "If everybody's working together and is working from the same set of information, we're not each trying to get information, we're not each trying to relay that information and work with law enforcement it's one entity."
One entity will be responsible for security training and intelligence gathering, while the other will combat antisemitism.
Meanwhile, what sparked Blount's spree wasn't immediately clear.
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