Handwritten journals containing anti-Semitic references were found in the home of the man charged with federal hate crimes Monday in the stabbing of five people celebrating Hanukkah at a rabbi’s house north of New York City, authorities said.
Grafton E. Thomas, 37, was expected to appear in federal court in White Plains to face five counts of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs by attempting to kill with a dangerous weapon and causing injuries in the Saturday attack.
The stabbings on the seventh night of Hanukkah come amid a series of violent attacks targeting Jews in the region that have led to increased security, particularly around religious gatherings.
A criminal complaint said journals recovered from Thomas’s home in Greenwood Lake included comments questioning “why ppl mourned for anti-Semitism when there is Semitic genocide” and a page with drawings of a Star of David and a swastika.
A phone recovered from his car included repeated internet searches for “Why did Hitler hate the Jews” as well as “German Jewish Temples near me” and “Prominent companies founded by Jews in America,” the complaint said.
On the day of the stabbings, the phone’s browser was used to access an article titled: “New York City Increases Police Presence in Jewish Neighborhoods After Possible Anti-Semitic Attacks. Here’s What To Know,” the complaint said.
But defense attorney Michael Sussman told reporters he visited Thomas’ home and found stacks of notes he described as “the ramblings of a disturbed individual” but nothing to point to an “anti-Semitic motive” or suggest Thomas “intentionally targeted” the rabbi’s home.
“My impression from speaking with him is that he needs serious psychiatric evaluation,” Sussman said. “His explanations were not terribly coherent.”
Thomas’s family said he was raised to embrace tolerance but has a long history of mental illness, including multiple hospitalizations.
“He has no history of like violent acts and no convictions for any crime,” his family said in a statement. “He has no known history of anti-Semitism and was raised in a home which embraced and respected all religions and races. He is not a member of any hate groups.”
“He’s never spoken about anything like that,” said the Rev. Wendy Paige, the family’s pastor. “He’s a Christian. The last time I saw him, we prayed together.”
Thomas served in the Marines and was president of his class at a high school in Queens, Sussman said. He attended William Paterson University between 2005 and 2007, the university confirmed.