N.J. man gets 40 years for violent crime spree targeting Jewish men

July 23 (UPI) -- A New Jersey man who admitted to injuring five people during a violent crime spree targeting Orthodox Jews in 2022 was sentenced Tuesday to 40 years in prison.

Dion Marsh, 29, pled guilty before U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi in February to attempting to kill four men by driving over them in stolen vehicles and injuring a fifth, all of who were identifiably members of the Orthodox Jewish community, over a span of eight hours on April 8, 2022, in Lakewood, N.J.

"These victims were targeted by Marsh because of the way they were dressed, which is in accordance with their religious beliefs," Special Agent in Charge James Dennehy of the FBI Newark Field Office said Monday in a statement .

"They have that right in this country. Marsh, however, did not have the right and broke federal law, when he attacked, stabbed and carjacked innocent people."

According to evidence and statements, Marsh's hate-filled crime spree began at 1:18 p.m. on April 8 when he carjacked an Orthodox Jew whom he assault before driving away in the 2016 Toyota Camry.

With a second stolen vehicle, seemingly a black Honda accord, Marsh struck another Orthodox Jewish man with intent to kill him at 5:20 p.m.

At 6:06 p.m., Marsh struck a second Jewish man with the vehicle, breaking several bones in his victim's body.

About fifty minutes later, Marsh, now driving the Camry again, attempted to kill another Jewish man who was walking in Lakewood. Marsh struck him with the vehicle and then stabbed him in the chest with a knife.

Then he drove to nearby Jackson Township, where at 8:23 p.m. he hit his fifth Jewish victim, breaking several of the man's bones and causing internal injuries.

Marsh was arrested later that night at his Manchester Township residence without incident, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said in a statement at that time.

Along with being sentenced to 40 years' imprisonment, Marsh was sentenced to five years' supervised release.

According to the U.S.-based Jewish organization Anti-Defamation League, there were 3,697 anti-Semitic incidents tallied throughout the United States in 2022, an increase of 36% a year before, but much less than the nearly 8,900 such incidents tabulated in 2023, indicating anti-Semitism has been on the rise across the country.