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NJ Youths Sentenced in Cemetery Desecration
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 17, 2008
Modified Mar 17, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 17, 2008
Modified Mar 17, 2008
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After toppling 499 headstones in January, four teenagers were sentenced today in Middlesex County, NJ. The Star-Ledger reports the judge gave the teens, ages 15-17, 18 months probation, plus paying some of the damages, writing letters of apology, serving 100 hours of "community service keeping community cemeteries clean" and attending "a 12-week course studying the Holocaust."
Three of the teens struck on New Year's day, toppling 17 headstones, and then came back a few days later and toppled more. Investigators determined that their motive was not anti-Semitism but plain old "alcohol-fueled" boredom that spurred their 4-hour spree overturning headstones, some of which weighed over a ton.
Congregation Poile Zedek in New Brunswick estimates it will cost $200,000 to repair the headstones, and one of the defendants was ordered to pay $5,000 in damages while the three others were told to pay $2,500. And apparently the parents of two of the boys offered to help repair the headstones - it's unclear if their sons made the same offer.
Tagged
boredom
cemetery desecration
crime
new brunswick
nj
Poile Zedek cemetery
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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