A New York Bagel: July 2007

Monday, July 30, 2007

Student nabbed in Koran dunk

The 10-month-old mystery of who threw the Koran into the toilets at Pace University's Manhattan campus was solved yesterday with the arrest of a student, cops said.

Stanislav Shmulevich, 23, was confronted by detectives with a surveillance photo of himself leaving a Pace meditation room where the Muslim holy books were stored, police sources said.

He made "admitting statements" after seeing the photograph, a source said.

The suspect's roommate in Gravesend, Brooklyn, said she was stunned by the charges.

"It's impossible. He was defending the Koran," said Ola Petrovich, 24, an online saleswoman. "We had that conversation. He said, 'Don't criticize the Koran if you haven't read it.'

"Why would he do something so stupid?"

Shmulevich is suspected in two bias incidents at the school last fall.

On Oct. 13, a teacher discovered a paperback Koran in a toilet in a second-floor bathroom. On Nov. 21, a student found a submerged Koran in the same bathroom, cops said.

The suspect is a Ukrainian immigrant who moved to the U.S. as a boy. He's been splitting time between his Brooklyn flat and his parents' Staten Island home, and works at a European banking firm, Petrovich said.

Shmulevich was a senior at the university when he took "a break" only a few credits shy of a degree in international business, the roommate said.

"He read the Koran," she continued. "He was telling me, 'You should read it.' He's Jewish, but he's theologically sound. Both his parents are ballistic over this."

The suspect's father, Edward Shmulevich, 55, said he hadn't spoken to his son yet about the charges.

"He's a good son," the father said. "He's a hard worker and he's about to graduate from college. He works full time at night and then he goes to school. I'm surprised, utterly surprised. I don't know what happened."

Shmulevich was awaiting arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court on hate crime charges for criminal mischief and aggravated harassment, officials said.

References:
NY Daily: Student nabbed in Koran dunk

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Ex-student in Koran flush freed on no bail

A former Pace University student accused of flushing two Korans down a campus toilet was freed without bail after being arraigned on criminal mischief charges yesterday.

"Get that camera out of my face!" Stanislav Shmulevich, 23, screamed, making an obscene gesture at a photographer outside Manhattan Criminal Court.

Shmulevich was a student at Pace when he threw the Muslim holy books in the toilet on Oct. 13 and Nov. 21, police said.

He was busted after cops discovered a surveillance camera that filmed him leaving the meditation room where the Korans had been kept before the vandalism.

Prosecutors asked for $1,500 bail for Shmulevich, who now works at a European banking firm. But a judge denied the request, citing his otherwise clean record.

References:
NYDaily News: Ex-student in Koran flush freed on no bail

NYPD, Feds find chemicals at Staten Island home

Potassium Nitrate [File photo] has many innocent uses
unfortunately it has some rather horrendous uses as well.

Federal agents and police descended on a Staten Island home on Thursday after learning of the presence of large amounts of potassium nitrate, authorities said.

Potassium is often used in pyrotechnics, but NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said there was no evidence that the man was involved in making bombs or selling bomb-making materials. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and Explosives was investigating.

Police discovered more than a ton of potassium nitrate in a storage facility near the home. Small amounts of chemicals were found at the home. The man who lived there was being questioned by authorities.

The man was apparently selling the chemicals in smaller quantities on the Internet.

Police evacuated a block in Graniteville, on the west side of Staten Island. The area round the house was cordoned off as concerned residents waited to return to their homes. Rumors circulated earlier that a more sinister chemical had been found.

John Mausch, 46, lives around the corner and said he was only somewhat relieved when he found out it was potassium nitrate.

"I came out and saw all the police - I got very alarmed," he said.

Joseph Green, a senior special agent with the ATF, said a vendor who deals with chemicals notified the agency Thursday that a resident of Staten Island had ordered a large quantity of chemicals.

The man apparently became alarmed because the same buyer ordered a vast quantity of the same substance previously. The first order was delivered to the buyer.

Green said the ATF was at the scene Thursday night along with bomb squads and Hazmat crews.

References:
NY Daily News: NYPD, Feds find chemicals at Staten Island home