Teen Arrested In Vandalism Of NY Jewish Camp Charged With Hate Crime

Campers at Camp Shomria in Upstate New York. Image by Facebook

By JTA July 2, 2017

(JTA) — A local teenager has been arrested and charged with vandalizing a Jewish camp in upstate New York.

Camp Shomria in Liberty, New York, run by the Hashomer Hatzair movement, was broken into on June 12. The interior and exterior of several of the buildings was damaged and covered in anti-Semitic graffiti.

Christopher Santoro, 18, was arraigned on Wednesday in the Town of Fallsburg Justice Court on felony charges of third-degree burglary and fourth-degree criminal mischief as a hate crime. He will return to court on July 5, the Times Herald-Record reported.

Police found in their investigation that Santoro acted against the camp out of “a dislike for the religion of the owners and occupants of the camp.” The state police hate crimes unit has been involved in the investigation.

The 100-year-old camp bills itself as “The Kibbutz in the Catskills.”

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO