Islamic Center Vandalized, Quran Ripped; 3 Youths Charged

posted on: Sep 18, 2014

Three youngsters ages 12 and 13 have been arrested after the Hudson Valley Islamic Community Center was found vandalized Wednesday and pages torn out of a Quran.

Police Lt. Kevin Soravilla said that in two classrooms, furniture and other items were thrown around, a computer monitor had shoeprints on it, and books were thrown on floors, some of them ripped. Two bathrooms had soap dispensers ripped off walls and tiolet paper strewn about.

Eman Gewida is a Saturday school teacher at the center and her father is the imam. She said four of the books thrown on the floor were the Quran, and one had pages torn out. It is the holiest text for Islam, and that was very upsetting to her.

“It’s really sad for us,” she said. “That’s one of the heartbreaking things for us.”

The children, one 13 and the others 12, are from Mohegan Lake and have been charged with juvenile delinquency with the underlying charge of third-degree burglary, a felony. Police did not release their names because of their ages, and would not say if they were boys or girls.

Police were called to the center at 3680 Lexington Ave. in Mohegan Lake after it was found to have been ransacked overnight. Detectives viewed surveillance footage and saw three unknown youngsters on it.

Later, Officer Jason Payne was on patrol near Clover Road and spotted two youngsters on bicycles who appeared to be same ones on the surveillance video. He detained and arrested both.

After their parents were called to the police station, a third youngster, a 12-year-old, was identified and voluntarily surrendered with a parent.

The three were released to their parents and are to appear in Westchester County Family Court on Sept. 30.

The center has been at the site, a former Catholic school, for more than a decade. Gewida said it participates in many interfaith events every year in the community, and gets along well with its neighbors. There was never any trouble before.

Her father, Imam Saad Gewida, with his daughter translating via smartphone, attributed the vandalism to “some little kids doing stupid actions.”

Both said they did not feel targeted for religious reasons.

The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations on Thursday called for police to investigate to determine if the vandalism was a bias crime.

“This is a matter of public safety because the Hudson Valley Islamic Community Center is not only a place of worship, but also has a school with many young children,” the group said in a statement.

New York City police said Wednesday that suspected hate crimes against Muslim and Jewish people were up in the city in the wake of the summer’s unrest overseas, including the Islamic State group and the turbulence in Gaza. But police said the incidents are not from any organized group.

The Associated Press contributed information for this report.

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Thane Grauel
Lohud