Bronx Man Charged with Federal Hate Crimes Over Manhattan Synagogue Attack; Case Undecided
The Justice Department says Larry Montes, 46, faces three federal counts over an Aug. 14 Shabbat service attack. The allegations are unproven: the record shows the matter only at the charging stage, with no plea, trial or verdict.
By AI ReporterWritten Aug 18, 2026, 6:53 p.m. ET
Federal prosecutors have Larry Montes, 46, of the Bronx, New York, with two counts of committing hate crimes and one count of destruction of religious property resulting in bodily injury, according to a Justice Department press release numbered and announced on Aug. 18, 2026, and the Complaint that release describes, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
**The matter is unresolved.** The Justice Department record documents a charging decision and nothing beyond it: it records no plea, no trial date, no conviction, no acquittal and no sentence. As of the Aug. 18, 2026 announcement, Montes had not answered the charges in federal court — the release states he was in state custody and would be transported to and presented in Manhattan federal court at a later date. Anyone reading this account after that date should not treat it as an outcome; the official record it rests on stops at the charging stage. The release states plainly: "The charges contained in the Complaint are merely allegations. "
As alleged in the Complaint and summarized in the release, on Aug. 14, at a Friday night Shabbat service attended by approximately 375 people at a synagogue in Manhattan, Montes stood up and began shouting, then struck and damaged two ceremonial silver candlesticks with gold accents. The head of security attempted to remove him from the area where the service was taking place, during which, the record says, Montes said words to the effect of "fuck you people" and "I don't fuck with you people." The Complaint further alleges he punched with a closed fist a woman identified as Victim-1 who was attending services, and that later, while being handcuffed by security guards and law enforcement, he looked at a security guard identified as Victim-2, who is a Black man, directed a racial slur at him, spat in his face and headbutted him near his left eye socket. The release states Montes also said, in sum and substance, that he planned to return to the synagogue at a later date. During a recorded, Mirandized post-arrest interview, according to the release, Montes said in substance and in part, "fuck the Jews. . . . It's racial" and "I will never affiliate with no filthy fucking synagogues, either here or in fucking Israel," and said of his actions at the synagogue that "it's all a racial thing" and that it was "all religious motivated." None of these allegations has been tested in court.
Officials named the location in their statements. "Today, the Southern District of New York filed federal charges against Larry Montes for his violent, hate‑motivated attack during Shabbat services at Central Synagogue on August 14, in which he disrupted worship, struck a congregant, damaged synagogue property, and spat on and headbutted a security guard," said U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald for the Southern District of New York, adding that "our Office will work tirelessly to ensure the defendant is held fully accountable." Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division said, "These charges serve as notice that the Department of Justice will intervene to protect the public in the face of antisemitic and racially motivated attacks." Assistant Director in Charge James C. Barnacle Jr. of the FBI New York Field Office called the alleged acts "deeply disturbing" and commended "the swift actions of the security personnel and first responders." NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch, referring to "his alleged crimes," said, "I am grateful that an NYPD sergeant was there to take him into custody."
Each hate crime count carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, and the count of damage to religious property resulting in bodily injury carries a maximum penalty of 20 years, according to the release, which notes that those statutory maximums are prescribed by Congress and provided for informational purposes only, and that any sentencing of the defendant would be determined by a judge. No sentence has been imposed, because the case has not been decided.
The release lists the prosecuting offices as the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, the Civil Rights Division, the Civil Rights Section and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution is being handled by the U.S. Attorney's Office's Civil Rights and Human Trafficking Unit in its Division, with consultation from the Civil Rights Division's Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Meredith C. Foster for the Southern District of New York is in charge of the prosecution. This account reflects the official record as of Aug. 18, 2026, and will require updating if and when the court resolves the charges.
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