Bronx man charged with hate crimes in Manhattan synagogue attack, DOJ says

Larry Montes, 46, of the Bronx, has been charged with two federal hate crime counts and one count of damage to religious property resulting in bodily injury following an alleged attack during Shabbat services at a Manhattan synagogue, the Justice Department announced.

According to the criminal complaint, Montes disrupted a Friday night Shabbat service on Aug. 14 attended by approximately 375 people at Central Synagogue, standing up and shouting before striking and damaging two ceremonial silver candlesticks with gold accents. As security personnel attempted to remove him, Montes allegedly punched a woman attending the service. Later, while being handcuffed by security guards and law enforcement, he allegedly directed a racial slur at a Black security guard, spat in the guard’s face and headbutted him near his left eye socket. The complaint also alleges that Montes said he planned to return to the synagogue at a later date.

During a recorded, Mirandized post-arrest interview, Montes made explicitly antisemitic statements and described his actions at the synagogue as “all a racial thing” and “all religious motivated,” according to the complaint.

Montes is currently in state custody and will be transported to Manhattan federal court at a later date to face the federal charges, which were filed in the Southern District of New York.

Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said the charges demonstrate that the department “will intervene to protect the public in the face of antisemitic and racially motivated attacks,” adding that Americans’ right to worship without fear of bias-motivated violence “is sacrosanct and must be protected at all costs.”

U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald for the Southern District of New York said Montes “disrupted worship, struck a congregant, damaged synagogue property, and spat on and headbutted a security guard,” vowing that her office “will work tirelessly to ensure the defendant is held fully accountable.”

FBI Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr. of the New York Field Office described Montes’s alleged “targeted acts of violence” as “deeply disturbing” and commended the swift response of security personnel and first responders. NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch credited an NYPD sergeant who was present at the scene with taking Montes into custody and praised the work of the department’s Hate Crimes Task Force and its federal partners.

Each hate crime count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, while the religious-property charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years, according to the Justice Department. These statutory maximums are prescribed by Congress, and any sentence would ultimately be determined by a judge.

The case is being prosecuted by the Southern District of New York’s Civil Rights and Human Trafficking Unit within its Criminal Division, in consultation with the Justice Department Civil Rights Division’s Criminal Section. Assistant U.S. Attorney Meredith C. Foster is in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the complaint are allegations. Montes is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.