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A New Jersey man who was charged with breaking into an Islamic student center at Rutgers University earlier this year and vandalizing religious artifacts pleaded guilty to committing a federal hate crime, officials said on Thursday.
The man, Jacob Beacher, 24, of North Plainfield, N.J., broke into the Center for Islamic Life at the state university’s main campus in New Brunswick early on the morning of April 10, during the Eid al-Fitr holiday, prosecutors said. Once inside, he caused thousands of dollars’ worth of damage to religious artifacts and stole a Palestinian flag.
Kristen Clarke, an assistant attorney general who leads the Civil Rights Division at the Department of Justice, said in a statement that Mr. Beacher was being “held accountable for Islamophobic-fueled acts of hate.” She also said he had interfered with the religious freedom of Rutgers students and staff members during Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim calendar’s holiest month.
“Islamophobic hate crimes have no place in our society today,” Ms. Clarke said. “We want our actions and the speed with which we responded to illustrate our commitment and resolve to protect houses of worship in New Jersey.”
Mr. Beacher, who faces up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, is set to be sentenced in February. His lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Beacher is not affiliated with Rutgers, a spokeswoman for the university said.
His guilty plea, which was entered before District Judge Robert Kirsch in Trenton federal court on Wednesday, comes days after the somber anniversary of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and the country’s ensuing war in Gaza.
Protests over the conflict had been taking place on college campuses across the country at the time when prosecutors said Mr. Beacher broke into the religious center and damaged artifacts.
Both anti-Muslim and antisemitic hate crimes and hate speech have risen since the Oct. 7 attacks.
On April 10, just before 3 a.m., Mr. Beacher was seen on security camera footage breaking a glass pane on the door of the center, reaching inside and unlatching a deadbolt lock, according to an F.B.I. agent’s affidavit.
Once inside, Mr. Beacher damaged a number of objects, including Turbah prayer stones and items that had language from the Quran, prosecutors said. After 20 minutes, he left, taking the flag and a charity box with him. He rode his bike to a nearby park, where the box was later found, according to the affidavit, which cited surveillance footage.
Two days after the break-in, Mr. Beacher told investigators he was the person seen in the footage but denied having broken into the building, according to the affidavit.
Initially, prosecutors estimated that Mr. Beacher had caused $40,000 in damage, but on Thursday officials said he had caused an estimated $19,000 in damage.
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