The Brooklyn District Attorney’s office has charged three individuals with hate crimes stemming from the June 12 vandalism incidents targeting the homes of Brooklyn Museum director Anne Pasternak and other museum board members.
The group “allegedly splashed red paint, [and] left threats at victims’ homes,” according to a statement from the district attorney. They are charged with making a terroristic threat as a hate crime, as well as criminal mischief as a hate crime, according to the charges.
As Artnet News reported previously, the vandals hung a banner across the front entrance of Pasternak’s co-op building in Brooklyn Heights that read: “Anne Pasternak / Brooklyn Museum / White-Supremacist Zionist.” The banner also bore handprints in red paint, and the term “Funds Genocide” repeated across the bottom of the banner. On the ground, “Blood on Your Hands” was painted out in block letters.
Gabriel Schubiner, a 36-year-old man from Brooklyn, was the latest to be charged on November 4. The other names included in statements from the NYPD and the D.A. are Taylor Pelton, a 28-year old woman from Queens, who was arrested and charged on July 31, and Samuel Seligson, a 32-year old Brooklyn man who was arrested and charged on August 6.
“Acts of vandalism that target individuals in their own homes are a deeply disturbing violation meant to intimidate, terrorize, and instill fear,” said Brooklyn District Attorney Erik Gonzalez in the statement. “These defendants allegedly targeted museum board members with threats and anti-Semitic graffiti based on their perceived heritage. These actions are not protests; they are hate crimes, and we are deeply committed to holding accountable anyone who uses such unlawful tactics in Brooklyn.”
The three individuals were named in a 25-count indictment in connection with “anti-Semitic incidents in Brooklyn Heights and Boerum Hill,” according to the statement. “The defendants allegedly targeted members of the Brooklyn Museum’s board of directors “who have Jewish-sounding names and did not target two board members who do not have Jewish-sounding names,” according to the statement.
At the time of the incident, the Brooklyn Museum’s press office confirmed that the homes of two trustees, as well as that of museum’s president and COO Kimberly Panicek Trueblood were also targeted.
According to the investigation, the D.A. said the three defendants were allegedly captured on surveillance video gathering at a location in in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in the early morning hours of June 12. The statement also refers to “three unapprehended others,” who helped carry supplies to Pelton’s car and placed them in the trunk.
Further, with respect to the Hamas-associated red triangles, a “stencil found on the ground at the location had a fingerprint covered in red paint which was identified as belonging to Schubiner,” according to the statement.
A representative for the Brooklyn Museum did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Previously a museum spokesperson said in a statement: “We are deeply troubled by these horrible acts targeting leaders connected to the museum. For two centuries, the Brooklyn Museum has worked to foster mutual understanding through art and culture, and we have always supported peaceful protest and open, respectful dialogue. Violence, vandalism, and intimidation have no place in that discourse.”
