Police: Circumstantial Evidence Links Arrest to 'Kill Jews' Incident (UPDATED)

Chatham Township Police Lt. George Petersen said Monday a man arrested by the New York Police Department July 15 could be the person who scattered anti-Semitic notes around borough and township streets in early June.

A Jewish Week article said Dimitrious Apolonides, 37, a driver at XYZ Luxury Sedan Service in Park Slope, Brooklyn, was arrested by the NYPD July 15. He was charged with scattering pieces of paper containing the phrase "Kill Jews" outside the Jewish Guild for the Blind in Manhattan May 13, according to the article.

But police also said Apolonides scattered the pieces of paper around various other areas and towns in the New York metropolitan area, according to the article. He was not charged in connection with doing so, however, because in those instances, he is protected by the First Amendment, the article states.

The article said in the case of the incident outside the Guild, however, Apolonides can be charged with aggravated harassment as a hate crime, since the institution is a religious one. (Read the full article here.)

Petersen said today township police have not proved Apolonides is the one who scattered the pieces of paper containing the anti-Semitic phrase around Chatham.

"We'd still have to prove that it was him, but certainly, a lot of circumstantial stuff would indicate it was him," Petersen said. "We still have to investigate and connect the dots, and we'd also have to figure out which charges would apply."

Borough police found 35 such notes June 9 along Main Street and found more the next day along Fairmount Avenue. Township police found the notes along Highland Avenue June 9.

Petersen said it is unclear whether a person could be charged in connection with what happened in Chatham.

"Beyond the littering, dropping the pieces of paper that have a violent message on them may not in itself be a prohibited act," he said. "That's one of the things that they're looking at."

He said various police departments could charge Apolonides with a crime if they choose. Similar incidents have happened in Millburn and Summit, and the Jewish Week article said the "Kill Jews" slips were left in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, Nassau County and Rockland County.

UPDATE: 4:59 p.m. Millburn police are investigating if there is a link, but officials are not ready to make an official connection to a 2009 incident in the township, said Police Capt. James Miller, public information officer.

"We're aware (of the arrest), but we're not prepared to say (the incidents) are linked," he said.