NJ man pleads guilty to several hate crimes against Orthodox Jewish community members

A man from Ocean County, New Jersey, pleaded guilty to several hate crimes that targeted members of the Orthodox Jewish community in April of 2022, officials announced. Each incident happened in or near Lakewood.

29-year-old Dion Marsh, of Manchester, faced a federal judge on Thursday and admitted to violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act as well as carjacking.

Just before 1:30 p.m. on April 8, 2022, Marsh forced a man out of his car in Lakewood. The man was visibly identifiable as a member of the Orthodox Jewish community by what he wearing.

Marsh assaulted this man and hurt him before taking his car and driving away.

Then, just before 5:30 p.m. that same day in Lakewood, Marsh was driving a different car when he purposefully hit a second man who was also dressed in traditional Orthodox Jewish clothing and tried to kill him.

Just after 6 p.m. on the same day, Marsh again used the second car to hit a third victim in Lakewood who was dressed in Orthodox Jewish clothing. This third victim suffered several broken bones due to the crash.

Then, less than an hour later, Marsh used the first car that he stole from the first victim to try and kill a fourth man identified as Orthodox Jewish by his clothing in Lakewood.

After hitting this fourth victim with the car, Marsh got out of the vehicle and stabbed the man with a knife.

A fifth victim, also dressed in Orthodox Jewish clothing, was targeted by Marsh just before 8:30 p.m. this same day.

Using the stolen car from the first victim again, Marsh hit this man who was walking in Jackson Township. This victim suffered several broken bones and internal injuries because of this crash.

Marsh is facing four hate crimes violations and carjacking charges.

The hate crimes charging him with trying to kill the victims carry a maximum term of life in prison each. The hate crime charging him with assaulting the victim carries a maximum of ten years in prison. The carjacking charge carries a maximum of 15 years in prison. All of these charges each carry a $250,000 fine.

Marsh is expected to be sentenced on June 11, 2024, officials say.