NYC Journalist Busted For Vandalizing Brooklyn Museum Exec's Home: NYP

BROOKLYN, NY — Police arrested a New York City journalist suspected of participating in the vandalism of several homes across the city two months ago, including the residence of the Brooklyn Museum's director.

Samuel Seligson, an independent videographer, faces felony hate crime charges for his alleged role in the vandalism.

According to a report by the Associated Press, Seligson had previously documented pro-Palestinian protests around the city and has licensed and sold footage to mainstream outlets such as Reuters and ABC News.

Seligson was arraigned in Brooklyn on Tuesday on eight counts of criminal mischief, four of which were classified as hate crimes. He pleaded not guilty to all charges, court records show.

This arrest comes just days after one of his accomplices, Taylor Pelton, 28, was identified, arrested, and also charged with criminal mischief as a hate crime.

Police said Seligson, Pelton and four others were caught on surveillance cameras vandalizing the houses of the museum's director, Anne Pasternak, and chief operations officer, Kimberly Trueblood, on June 12.

At the Brooklyn Heights home of Pasternak, who is Jewish, the group hung a banner that read, “Anne Pasternak Brooklyn Museum White-Supremacist Zionist.” They also sprayed an upside-down red triangle on her door, a symbol used by Hamas to mark Israeli military targets, police said.

Just days before the incident, groups of protesters gathered outside the Brooklyn Museum, calling on the institution to disclose and divest any connections to Israel in response to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Protesters blocked entrances and displayed banners both inside and on the façade of the museum, museum spokesperson Taylor Maatman told NBC.

"These actions will never be tolerated in New York City for any reason. I'm sorry to Anne Pasternak and members of Brooklyn Museum's board who woke up to hatred like this," Mayor Eric Adams previously said.

Police said they are still searching for the four other people depicted in the surveillance recordings as of this week.