By Thomas Tracy
The alleged “bomber of Remsen Street” could face 25 years to life in prison if convicted of the widespread criminal indictment Kings County District Attorney Charles Hynes released Sunday. Prosecutors said that Ivaylo Ivanov was facing multiple charges of criminal possession of a weapon and aggravated harassment as a hate crime after cops allegedly linked him to a cache of weapons and explosives in his apartment, as well as a swastika spree that hit Brooklyn Heights last fall. During a press conference with Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly on Sunday, Hynes said that the charges against Ivanov will be prosecuted “to the fullest extent of the law.” “Hate crimes are attacks against the whole of society, not just the individuals or groups targeted,” Hynes said as he commended the NYPD for arresting Ivanov “before he could use the arsenal he built up in his apartment.” Officials allege that cops found a 9-mm Taurus handgun, a hunting rifle, a sawed-off shotgun and eight pipe bombs as they executed a search warrant on his home on January 20, just after the 37-year-old showed up at Long Island College Hospital suffering from a gunshot wound to his hand. Ivanov claimed that he had accidentally shot himself as he cleaned one of his guns. When responding detectives questioned him, Ivanov consented to a search of his apartment, where the weapons were found. After further questioning, Ivanov admitted to peppering the neighborhood with swastikas last September just after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited the city. He was charged with spray painting swastikas on several cars, sidewalks and buildings, including Congregation B'nai Avraham and the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue, which are both on Remsen Street. The indictment also alleges that Ivanov papered cars in the neighborhood with flyers containing swastikas and the words “Kill all the Jews”. According to his criminal complaint, Ivanov admitted to scrawling the swastikas, “knowing that said actions would cause annoyance and alarm.” He was ultimately arraigned on $300,000 bail for the weapons cache as well as $300,000 for the swastikas, said prosecutors. “A swastika is not just another form of graffiti,” Kelly said. “It is a symbol that generates real fear, particularly for those still-surviving victims of Nazi Germany, as well as with relatives – so many who reside in New York – who were orphaned by its barbarism.”
