{"id":342331,"date":"2026-09-09T23:54:23","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T23:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/342331\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T23:54:23","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T23:54:23","slug":"man-indicted-on-hate-crime-charges-after-disrupting-nyc-shabbat-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/342331\/","title":{"rendered":"Man indicted on hate crime charges after disrupting NYC Shabbat services"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Bronx man was indicted Wednesday on hate crime charges for allegedly disrupting Shabbat services at Central Synagogue in Midtown last month. The event drew national and international attention<\/a> at the time.<\/p>\n

Larry Montes, 46, faces two counts of second-degree criminal mischief as a hate crime and one count each of attempted second-degree assault as a hate crime, third-degree assault as a hate crime and criminal interference with religious worship, among other charges, according to the Manhattan district attorney\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

\u201cPlaces of worship should be safe havens, not scenes of violence and hate,\u201d District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Montes allegedly approached the front of the synagogue just after 6 p.m. on Aug. 14. He began yelling that he was \u201cHashem,\u201d a Hebrew word used to refer to God, according to prosecutors. He then knocked down two candles and candleholders, breaking them and causing more than $7,000 in damage.<\/p>\n

Then Montes began moving down the main aisle, yelling antisemitic remarks, according to prosecutors. At one point, he allegedly struck a 63-year-old congregant in the face, knocking her to the ground. As security escorted Montes out, he made a racist remark to the guard, spit in his face and headbutted him, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n

Video of the incident spread quickly online. It shows a man moving down the synagogue’s aisle, shouting as people in attendance rushed to get out of the way.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors said Montes\u2019 actions were both antisemitic and anti-Black.<\/p>\n

When Montes was arraigned last month, he pleaded not guilty. An attorney representing Montes could not immediately be reached for comment.<\/p>\n

Montes also faces federal hate crimes charges.<\/p>\n

Central Synagogue is among the city\u2019s most well-known places of worship. City Council Speaker Julie Menin is a member, and NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch has described it as the congregation she grew up in.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur synagogues should be sacred spaces where New Yorkers can worship safely, but Larry Montes violated that sanctity when he disrupted a service at Central Synagogue and assaulted a congregant,\u201d Tisch said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The attack drew wide condemnation from state and city leaders, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Mayor Zohran Mamdani.<\/p>\n

A week after the incident, Tisch addressed the congregation<\/a> and pledged the department’s support for Jewish institutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A Bronx man was indicted Wednesday on hate crime charges for allegedly disrupting Shabbat services at Central Synagogue…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10],"class_list":["post-342331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-headlines","tag-new-york-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}