Alleged N.J. synagogue attacker faces new charges
Published January 29, 2012
The 19-year-old man charged in attacks on two northern New Jersey synagogues also planned an attack on a nearbyJewish Community Center.
Anthony Graziano of Lodi, N.J., who last week pleaded not guilty in a Hackensack courtroom through his attorney, allegedly hid Molotov cocktails and a bicycle in the woods near the Paramus JCC and planned to attack it on Jan. 7.
Because of the new information, the prosecutor’s office on Jan. 27 added the new charges of aggravated arson and bias intimidation for the planned attack to his charge sheet.
Graziano was charged on Jan. 25 with nine counts of first-degree attempted murder in the Rutherford attack, as well as one count each of bias intimidation and aggravated arson. Rabbi Nosson Schuman of Congregation Beth El, who lives with his family in the synagogue residence, was injured in the attack.
In the Paramus attack on Congregation K’Hal Adath Jeshurun, Graziano was charged with aggravated arson and bias intimidation, as well as third-degree arson.
If convicted on all charges, he could be sentenced to up to 95 years in prison.
He is being held on $5 million bail after being arrested Jan. 24 in connection with the Jan. 11 firebomb attack on a synagogue and residence in neighboring Rutherford and the Jan. 3 arson attack on a synagogue in Paramus.