Dan Sohail pleaded guilty on Wednesday to damaging Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters in Brooklyn, N.Y., facing a maximum sentence of three years in prison and mandatory restitution, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Sohail, 36, of Carteret, N.J., allegedly drove to a side entrance of the building, exited his vehicle, removed barriers, then returned to his car and rammed it into the building’s side entrance, knocking the door off its hinges.
“By pleading guilty today, the defendant admitted that he intentionally damaged the Chabad-Lubavitch World Headquarters, a globally significant Jewish religious institution, by repeatedly crashing his vehicle into the building’s entrance,” said Joseph Nocella Jr., U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York, citing increasing violence aimed at Jewish institutions.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon said that Sohail’s conduct “was a targeted attack on the religious liberty and peace of worship to which every American is entitled.”
“The Department of Justice will not tolerate acts of hatred and violence against religious institutions,” she said.
