A Town of Warwick teen pleaded guilty on Wednesday to his
role in antisemitic
graffiti being spray-painted on walls at a local Jewish cemetery.
Eric Carbonaro, now 19, pleaded guilty in Orange County
Court to two felony counts, tampering with physical evidence and fifth-degree
conspiracy as a hate crime.
Vandals defaced the Beth Shalom Cemetery in the Town of
Warwick between Oct. 8-9, 2016, spray-painting swastikas, Nazi SS symbols and
the words “Heil Hitler” on stone walls at the entrance.
In court, under questioning by Judge Craig Brown, Carbonaro
admitted that on June 19, 2017, he told a female friend to delete photos and
texts between the two of them from her phone, knowing they were evidence of a
crime and that state police would use them as evidence. Carbonaro admitted he
also told the girl to lie to police about whether they were at the cemetery on
a particular night.
Between Sept. 15 and Oct. 8, 2016, he admitted, he
discussed spray-painting Beth Shalom Cemetery with that same friend, and that
they conspired to deface the cemetery overnight between Oct. 8-9 with graffiti
that included swastikas and the words “Heil Hitler.” He admitted the graffiti
was based on religion or ancestry, real or perceived.
