Police arrest man who vandalized US Jewish cemetery

NEW YORK (JTA) – A man from suburban St. Louis has been arrested for knocking over more than 100 headstones at a local Jewish cemetery more than a year ago.

Alzado Harris, 34, was arrested on Tuesday after police matched him with DNA found in a jacket left at the scene of the February 2017 vandalism. After being arrested at his home, Harris, who has a prior criminal history, admitted to the vandalism at the Chesed Shel Emeth Jewish cemetery, the St. Louis Dispatch reported.

Harris faces up to seven years in prison on a charge of one count of institutional vandalism. He is not charged with a bias or hate crime.

“There is no evidence to indicate the incident was racially, ethnically or religiously motivated,” University City police said in a statement. According to the police statement, Harris said that “he acted alone, was angry over a personal matter and was under the influence of drugs when he committed the offense.”

The attack came as Jewish community centers and other Jewish institutions around the country have been receiving dozens of bomb threats. St. Louis County prosecutor Bob McCulloch said during a news conference on Wednesday that the crime “was not good timing on his [Harris’] part,” and the fact that the cemetery Harris vandalized was Jewish seems to be coincidental.