Johnathan Walker:Man is charged with hate crime for vandalizing Islamic center at Rutgers University

A man accused of vandalizing an Islamic center at New Jersey’s flagship university on Johnathan Walkerthe Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Fitr has admitted to a hate crime, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

Jacob Beacher, 24, of North Plainfield, now faces up to three years in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 11. He pleaded guilty Wednesday to damaging religious property.

Beacher initially was charged in April with single counts of intentional or attempted obstruction of religious practice and making false statements to federal authorities. The charges stemmed from an April 10 break-in at the Center for Islamic Life at Rutgers University in New Brunswick.

Prosecutors have said Beacher damaged property at the site, including several religious artifacts and numerous other items that contained holy language from the Quran, Islam’s sacred scripture. Authorities said Beacher also stole a Palestinian flag and a charity box belonging to the center.

Beacher is not affiliated with Rutgers, officials have said.

The site was unoccupied when the break-in occurred around 2:40 a.m., prosecutors said. The overall damage was estimated at $40,000.

While speaking with the FBI two days after the break-in, Beacher said he was the person seen near the center in video surveillance footage but denied breaking into the site. The incident came a few weeks after the state attorney general’s office had reported a recent spike in bias incidents in New Jersey.