A woman was arrested and charged with a hate crime for splashing red paint on the home of the Jewish director of the Brooklyn Museum earlier this summer.
Taylor Pelton, 28, was charged Wednesday with criminal conduct as a hate crime in connection with the June attack, the New York City Police Department said.
In the attack, red paint was smeared on the front facade and door of Brooklyn Museum director Anne Pasternak’s home in Brooklyn.
Surveillance video showed five people wearing masks and dressed in black defacing the courtyard and raising a banner with the director’s name. Stencil graffiti was also left on the ground that said: “Blood on your hands.”
A criminal complaint in the case said Pelton and five other unarrested individuals were seen on video surveillance getting into a red Honda Fit while holding several black suitcases after 2 a.m. on June 12.
Video surveillance caught them defacing two homes — that of Anne Pasternak and Kimberly Panicek Trueblood, president and chief operating officer of the Brooklyn museum.
In the case of Pasternak’s home, an officer observed the building’s front facade and courtyard areas covered in red paint, red inverted triangles, red handprints and a banner that read: “Anne Pasternak Brooklyn Museum White-Supremacist, Funds Genocide ”.
At the time, New York Comptroller Brad Lander posted photos of doors stained with red paint and hate speech.
Senior police sources said at the time that they were looking for around 15 people as there had been several incidents in the city where red paint was thrown or spray-painted on houses. Other houses impacted were members of the museum’s board of directors.
Pelton appeared in Kings County Court on Wednesday, where she pleaded not guilty and was released on non-monetary conditions.
She will return to court on October 30. NBC News has reached out to his attorney for comment.
The Brooklyn Museum told NBC News on Friday: “We are aware that the district attorney has filed criminal charges against an individual accused of participating in the June 12 vandalism to the homes of several Brooklyn Museum leaders. Those affected are cooperating with the authorities.”
The museum’s leadership said it believes it is “crucial to distinguish between peaceful protests and criminal acts,” noting that it has a long history of supporting artists’ freedom of expression.
“Our vision remains rooted in the belief that art promotes dialogue and mutual understanding among people with diverse experiences and perspectives.”
Since the start of the Hamas-Israel war, protests and demonstrations have taken place across the world, including on college campuses in the US. Also in the United States, there has been an increase in anti-Semitic and Islamophobic harassment and incidents.
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