Two of three men charged with bias intimidation and bias-based criminal mischief in Roosevelt, Hightstown, and East Windsor on Jan. 7 were arraigned in East Windsor Municipal Court on Feb. 11. Cameras were not permitted in the courtroom. Photo by Marilyn Silverstein
February 14, 2008
One of three East Windsor men charged with a graffiti rampage in the Princeton area was arraigned on bias charges in the East Windsor Municipal Court on Monday, Feb. 11.
Tall, square-shouldered, and bespectacled, 18-year-old Max Drazdik stood impassively before Judge James Stahl and listened to the litany of charges — three indictable offenses of committing a bias crime by intimidation and four disorderly persons offenses — his tension betrayed only by the repeated flexing of his fingers.
After reciting each complaint, Stahl asked Drazdik if he understood the charge. Each time, the alleged vandal softly replied, “Yes.” In the end, the judge referred the matter to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.
Drazdik and his two cohorts — Nikolai Afanassenkov and Nicholas Kurahara, also 18 — allegedly ran amok on Jan. 7, spray-painting swastikas, obscenities, anti-homosexual slurs, and political defamations on public monuments in Roosevelt, Hightstown, and East Windsor.
If found guilty, the men could face a maximum of five years in prison and fines of up to $15,000, according to the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office. The assistant prosecutor handling the case is Al Garcia.
Although all three men were scheduled to be arraigned together during the Monday afternoon court session, Drazdik was the only one to appear at that time. Afanassenkov reportedly showed up at court that morning for his arraignment, and Kurahara failed to appear at all.
“He never showed,” said court administrator Donna Suk, noting that the matter of Kurahara’s failure to appear is now also in the hands of the Mercer County prosecutor.
In the wake of the arraignments, Andrew Frank, executive director of the United Jewish Federation of Princeton Mercer Bucks, praised the authorities for their swift action in the matter.
“I have great respect for the efficiency and efficacy with which local law enforcement officials acted on this in apprehending the alleged perpetrators,” Frank told NJ Jewish News. “It will enable us to take the appropriate steps to put this ugly incident behind us.”
The Anti-Defamation League commended Hightstown Police for the arrests.
“Law enforcement worked diligently to obtain information from the public and then examined surveillance cameras at a nearby store, which showed the suspects purchasing spray paint,” said Etzion Neuer, director of ADL’s NJ regional office. “Although we are concerned by the number of incidents of hate in New Jersey, we take some solace in that New Jersey law enforcement treats hate crimes very seriously and demonstrates a high level of responsiveness.”
Anti-Semitic and anti-gay graffiti on the pedestal of a bust of FDR in the town of Roosevelt
The three men — all graduates of Hightstown High School and members of an East Windsor rock band known as Smoot — are college students. Afanassenkov attends the University of Hartford; Drazdik is a student at George Washington University; and Kurahara studies at the University of Delaware.
According to East Windsor police, their arrests came after an eyewitness stepped forward to say that he had observed the suspects purchasing cans of spray paint at a nearby Wal-Mart store the day before the graffiti attacks. Examination of the store’s surveillance tapes led to the identification of the three men.
“Our investigation indicated these individuals are not involved in any organized hate group,” said William Spain, chief of police in East Windsor. “What they exercised could be charitably described as incredibly poor judgment, and now they will have to face serious consequences for their actions.”
According to police, the three attackers spray-painted a swastika and some obscenities on a street sign and a guardrail in East Windsor and a swastika on a fountain in the center of Hightstown.
But their rampage peaked in Roosevelt, a town founded by Jews in 1937 as an experiment in collective farming and manufacturing and dedicated to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt after his death in 1945.
On the pedestal of a bust of FDR, the alleged vandals painted a hammer and sickle, the “f-word” accompanying a star of David, and a swastika in the form of crossed lines inside a square box.
Their defamations also included the word “gay,” a comment that Roosevelt “didn’t fix the Great Depression,” and an expletive condemning “GWB” —presumably President George W. Bush.
In an interview with the Trenton Times, Andrei Afanassenkov, Nikolai’s father, said, “A swastika is horrible.” The elder Afanassenkov said his family had Russian ancestors “who suffered much from Hitlerism and fascism.” He said the graffiti is “against our principle and against the way we were brought up.”
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