May 14 (UPI) — The man accused of repeatedly crashing his vehicle into an entrance of the Brooklyn headquarters of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement in January has pleaded guilty, according to federal prosecutors.
Dan Sohail entered his guilty plea to a charge of damaging religious property Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Eric Vitaliano in a federal courtroom in Brooklyn, N.Y., and now faces a maximum penalty of three years’ imprisonment and mandatory restitution when sentenced.
“The defendant’s dangerous conduct was a targeted attack on the religious liberty and peace of worship to which every American is entitled,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement.
“Today’s conviction sends a clear message: the Department of Justice will not tolerate acts of hatred and violence against religious institutions.”
According to federal prosecutors, Sohail admitted to intentionally damaging the Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters by repeatedly crashing his vehicle into an entrance on the evening of Jan. 28 as it was hosting an event marking the anniversary of the death of the movement’s leader.
Prosecutors said Sohail drove up to the building, exited his car and removed barriers that were protecting the facility, before repeatedly driving into it, causing damage to its doors.
Video of the incident posted online by the Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters public relations liaison shows the car ramming the building at least three times, breaking one of its wooden doors, as members of the crowd that formed yell in protest and call for police to be notified.
Officers quickly arrived on the scene, ordering Sohail to exit his vehicle and then taking him into custody.
Federal prosecutors said he rammed the facility a total of four times.
According to the criminal complaint, Sohail told investigators after being detained that icy conditions and the heavy boots he was wearing caused him to lose control of the vehicle and press the gas pedal.
Sohail rammed the facility as incidents targeting Jewish people and institutions have surged amid conflicts in the Middle East, in particular Israel’s war in Gaza.
“At a time when acts of violence directed at Jewish institutions have dramatically increased, this prosecution underscores our office’s commitment to ensuring that worshippers can gather safely and those who threaten religious institutions will be held accountable,” U.S. Attorney Joseph Nocella Jr. for the Eastern District of New York said.
Chabad-Lubavitch is a branch of Hasidic Judaism that was founded in the late 1700s. The building at 770 Eastern Parkway is its global headquarters.
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