Monsey man arrested for alleged hate crime following incident at family-owned auto repair shop
Officers with Ramapo police identified the suspect as 33-year-old Benzion Rivlin.
More Stories
A family-owned business in Monsey says it is fed up with being the target of hate.
The owners say they are not backing down, and now, an arrest has been made in a recent incident.
Criminal mischief in the fourth-degree as a hate crime and trespassing are just two of the multiple charges a man is facing.
Police say they caught the man moments after he tried to damage an American/Israeli flag at the Monsey Service Station.
Officers with Ramapo police identified the suspect as 33-year-old Benzion Rivlin. The incident happened early Tuesday morning.
Officers say Rivlin was trying to use spray-paint to damage the flag but the paint can wasn't working right.
He tried to run from police but they caught him quickly, according to officers.
This is not the first time this business has been the target of vandalism or hate.
The business owners say that shortly after the owner's daughter put up an Israeli flag outside the business earlier this year is when it all began.
"Between the stealing of the flags and the spray-painting on the sidewalks and the stealing of the flags again and the chanting and protesting outside and the dead fish thrown in front of our building, I couldn't even tell you how many times we've been going through this," says Lauren Pepper, whose father owns the Monsey Service Station.
Officers can't confirm if Rivlin is connected to these previous incidents at the service station.
However, they tell News 12 he was arrested back in March on a different hate crime-related charge.
He's due back in court for this most recent case on Sept. 19.
RELATED: Monsey family business targeted again over Israeli flag
