A 49-year-old man was arrested Thursday night for an arson attack at an Orthodox Shul in Miami Beach. Mike Bracamonte was charged with burglary and arson in the Wednesday night fire at Temple Moses (reported HERE on YWN). Security cameras had been installed at Temple Moses a day before, and the fire was caught on video. It shows a man smoking a cigarette and then igniting wood in the garage in an apparent attempt to burn the temple above.
Using the image from the surveillance video, Miami Beach Detective Luis Alsina started knocking on doors in the area and talking to confidential informants to see if anyone recognized the man.
He was able to identify Bracamonte as a possible suspect, police said, and went to speak with him at his apartment.
Police say Bracamonte admitted to being the man in the video, but denied starting the fire.
Members of the Shul at 1200 Normandy Dr. say they will take part in regular Shabbos Tefillos on Friday evening.
Bracamonte allegedly walked into the parking garage of Temple Moses and set wood pallets on fire shortly before midnight. The fire was contained to the garage, but it could have torn through to the main building within a few minutes, Rabbi Iosef Benchimol said.
The fire occurred less than a week after feces were smeared and eggs were thrown at another Miami Beach rabbi’s house. Police are investigating that incident.
On Thursday, a team from the Anti-Defamation League assessed the damage and spoke with community members.
”While the motive for this arson is still unknown, this cowardly criminal act not only impacts the congregation of Temple Moses, but the entire Jewish community,” read a statement from Andrew L. Rosenkranz, Florida regional director for the ADL. “It is truly disheartening to see a house of worship become the target of arson.”
Rosenkranz said his organization has become increasingly concerned about potentially anti-Semitic incidents in South Florida, including previous fires and vandalism at synagogues.
On May 14, Rabbi Aaron Rabin of the Jewish Learning Center, a synagogue on 41st Street in Miami Beach, came home to find that his house had been egged and feces smeared on his front door.
In July, Pichardo Dearmas of Miami Beach was charged with assault with prejudice, a misdemeanor, for slapping his hand at Orthodox Rabbi Abraham S. Mann and blurting an obscene epithet at the rabbi while he walked on the Venetian Causeway.
In April 2008, vandals spray-painted a series of swastikas on Chabad of Parkland, a North Broward synagogue, including the phrase ”4 Hitler” on a sign after the word Stop.
That same month, a blaze gutted Chabad Shul, an Orthodox synagogue at 2401 Pine Tree Dr. in Miami Beach. Members are currently meeting in a rented space at 309 23rd St. in Miami Beach, but the economic decline has hindered plans to open a permanent synagogue, said Rabbi Zev Katz. No arrests have been made in either case.
In October 2007, a fire ripped through the Miami Beach Community Kollel. Seven months later, investigators ruled the blaze at 3767 Chase Ave. incendiary but did not call it an arson and had made no arrests. Members temporarily met at Temple Beth Israel, near the Kollel, but have since rebuilt their synagogue.
(Source: Miami Herald)
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One Response
Will this creature be charged under Hate Crimes statutes?
Realize that Florida is a ‘make my day’ state. Maybe it is time for this community to organize a Shomrim unit with some ‘Israeli type’ back up.