Nicholas Malindretos was arrested on Wednesday on one count of attempted use of fire to damage a building after he allegedly threw a Molotov cocktail at a synagogue in New Jersey on Sunday. According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, New Jersey, Malindretos will appear at a Newark federal court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Edward S. Kiel on Thursday, February 2.
“The defendant is alleged to have gone to a synagogue in the middle of the night and maliciously attempted to damage and destroy it using a firebomb,” US Attorney Philip R. Sellinger noted.
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“Protecting communities of faith and houses of worship is core to this office’s mission. In response to this attempted attack, my office – together with our federal, state, and local partners – worked around the clock to investigate this matter swiftly.”
Who is Nicholas Malindretos?
Nicholas Malindretos is a 26-year-old man from Passaic County, New Jersey.
According to the court documents accessed by CNN, Malindretos – the suspect, lit and threw a Molotov cocktail at the front door of the Temple Ner Tamid synagogue on Sunday, at around 3 am. Police said that the bottle broke after he threw it, but did not cause any damage to the building.
The criminal complaint in the case states that a license plate reader near the synagogue read the license plate of the car the suspect used in the attack. Bloomfield Police officials were able to spot the car on Wednesday and the description of the person inside the car seemed to match that of the suspect as recorded in the CCTV footage of the incident.
During the arrest, materials from the automobile included a hooded sweatshirt, objects made of white cloth material resembling the gloves the defendant was wearing at the time of the event, and a container containing unidentified liquids.
If convicted of the charges, Malindretos will face up to 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.
