NYPD makes arrest in hate crime probe

Police Monday arrested a Jewish man from Manhattan on charges he committed a series of anti-Semitic acts within the last several weeks around the city, officials said.

David Haddad, 56, of 355 Eighth Ave., was being held on charges of aggravated harassment as a hate crime for incidents that involved at least one relative and others, a law enforcement official said. Investigators think the incident involving the relative was sparked by a family business dispute, the official said Monday.

Police are trying to determine if Haddad, whose occupation wasn't known, was responsible for a number of spray-painted swastikas and anti-Semitic slogans that appeared in Brooklyn over the weekend on garage and apartment doors, said the official, who didn't want to be identified.

According to a police report, the incidents for which Haddad is charged began on Dec. 11 when an 80-year-old woman in the Sheepshead Bay area received threatening and anti-Semitic phone calls. Two episodes on Jan. 10 and 11 involved anti-Semitic telephone calls to victims on the Lower West Side of Manhattan, including an 87-year-old woman, police said. A fourth incident on Jan. 12 also occurred in the Sheepshead Bay area and involved a voice mail message containing threats and anti-Semitic statements, investigators said.

The Jan. 10 episode in Manhattan also involved anti-Semitic symbols and statements discovered on five apartment doors and in the building hallway, police said.