Overview
- Federal prosecutors unsealed a complaint on March 2 charging Dan Sohail, 36, with intentionally damaging religious property at Chabad-Lubavitch headquarters, a count that carries up to three years in prison if convicted.
- Authorities say he moved protective barriers, gestured for bystanders to step back, and then drove into the side entrance five times during a Jan. 28 observance, knocking a door off its hinges; no injuries were reported.
- Sohail was taken into federal custody and arraigned in Brooklyn, and the detention hearing was continued to Wednesday as the court considers a bail package.
- Magistrate Judge Clay H. Kaminsky indicated that a mental-health evaluation would be appropriate and discussed requiring at least one suretor for any release conditions.
- Separate state hate-crime charges remain pending with $500,000 cash bail or $1 million bond and a March 31 court date; the federal filing does not allege a hate crime, and Sohail has told investigators he recently learned of Jewish heritage and claimed he lost control of the car.