BOSTON, June 28, 2017—A Roxbury man was arraigned today on charges he vandalized the New England Holocaust Memorial in downtown Boston following an argument early this morning, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

JAMES E. ISAAC (D.O.B. 12/30/95) was arraigned today in Boston Municipal Court on charges of malicious destruction of property over $250 and willful damage to a church, synagogue, or memorial.  Assistant District Attorney Anthony Rizzo requested that Isaac’s bail be set at $15,000 and that his bail be revoked in an unrelated assault and battery case currently pending in Chelsea District Court.  Judge Sally Kelly imposed $750 bail and revoked Isaac’s open bail.

Broken glass lies on the ground after a man allegedly hurled a rock at the New England Holocaust Memorial last night.

Rizzo told the court that a man later identified as Isaac became involved in a verbal altercation with a group of individuals on Union Street shortly before 2:00 a.m. after members of the group did not offer Isaac the time when asked.  A witness observed the man then pick up an object and throw it at the Holocaust Memorial, shattering one of the monument’s glass panels — each engraved with thousands of numbers representing the six million Jews murdered by the Nazi regime.  The witness contacted Boston Police and provided the offender’s physical description and direction of travel.

Isaac allegedly followed the individuals whom he had verbally confronted to the area of Congress Street, where he and a woman accompanying him were stopped by police.  He was positively identified by a witness.

At the time of his arrest, Isaac was wearing a GPS monitoring device as a condition of his release in the Chelsea case, prosecutors said.

Isaac returns to Boston Municipal Court on July 18.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.