A woman accused of stalking a young rabbi through Manhattan’s Diamond District and stabbing him in the back with a syringe attacked a second Jewish man just five minutes later, prosecutors said at her arraignment Sunday, the New York Post reports.
Anna Mochalova, 32, was arrested Saturday and charged with a slew of offenses, including assault as a hate crime. Prosecutors said she followed Yosef, a 26-year-old rabbi seen on surveillance video in traditional Orthodox dress, before jabbing him in the back with a needle near West 47th Street and Fifth Avenue at 5:50 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 21. The syringe held unknown contents.
Yosef previously told The Post he believes he was singled out because he is “visibly Jewish.” “I never met that person before,” he said. “She passes by other people. I’m visibly Jewish.” He added that it was the first time he had experienced antisemitism in America: “I never experienced antisemitism anywhere in America on a personal level.”
According to prosecutors, Mochalova then deliberately bumped into a 37-year-old Jewish man wearing a yarmulke at West 45th Street and Fifth Avenue several times, leaving a stinging sensation in his right arm. She then allegedly told him, “run away from here. I have a gun. I’m going to shoot you.” The man was later treated for lacerations, authorities said.
Prosecutors said Mochalova next approached a third man, who was spared because he told her he was Muslim. She apologized to him for bothering him and left, according to prosecutors. The NYPD’s Hate Crimes Task Force investigated both attacks as antisemitic.
“The conduct in these incidents is scary and concerning and the defendant faces serious charges as a result,” Assistant District Attorney Emily Hong said in Manhattan Criminal Court. “She [Mochalova] selected both of her targets because she believed them to be Jewish.”
Defense attorney Lila Carpenter told the court her client has no prior arrests and is gainfully employed, and said “there may be an ID issue.” “These allegations are concerning. Whether they’re my client’s is a different story,” Carpenter told Judge Linda Capitti.
Capitti set bail at $50,000 cash, citing the seriousness of the allegations and the surveillance video of the alleged attacks, and warned that Mochalova could face “a serious sentence” if convicted. A coordinator with the Manhattan Shomrim told The Post the Jewish community is “happy” with the decision. “You know, having her back outside is just a danger to everybody outside. She needs to get help,” the coordinator said.
The attacks came weeks after the NYPD reported that hate crimes in the city rose nearly 13% over the first nine months of the year compared with the same stretch last year, with anti-Jewish incidents making up more than half of them.
Mochalova is due back in court Oct. 29. Yosef, meanwhile, returned to the same street the day after the attack to continue his outreach, citing his grandparents, who survived the Holocaust. “They went on to build a Jewish home after the Holocaust,” he said. “If they could survive, I must go back to spread the light.”