By Allison Perrine
MIDDLETOWN – A Middletown woman was arrested Tuesday in connection with a series of acts of vandalism at three houses of worship within the township that started June 1. Police are looking at the matter as a possible bias crime.
Township resident Natalee A. Hamilton, 34, has been charged for vandalizing Westminster Presbyterian Church, New Monmouth Baptist Church and Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses by breaking multiple windows with rocks. However, the department reminds everyone that any persons arrested or charged with offenses are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
“This series of crimes committed against houses of worship is deeply disturbing, especially as it occurred during the pandemic when so many people have relied upon their faith for comfort and support in these very difficult times,” said Police Chief Craig Weber in a press release. “I would like to acknowledge and commend our Detective Bureau for their dedication and outstanding investigative efforts in identifying and apprehending the individual responsible for these crimes.”
Westminster Presbyterian was the first house of worship to be vandalized Sunday, June 1. At that time, according to Rev. Joseph Hein, the vandal “violently” threw “softball-sized” landscaping stones at the church and broke eight double-pane windows in the Christian education wing, also ruining rugs inside the building which were covered in shards of glass.
New Monmouth Baptist was vandalized July 14 and all three churches were struck again July 19. At that time, Hein said the vandal broke windows at New Monmouth Baptist, two additional windows in the Westminster Presbyterian sanctuary and almost all of the windows at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
But Hein called the July 26 attack at Westminster Presbyterian the “most shocking.”
About 50 parishioners were attending limited in-person worship in the sanctuary – about 25 percent capacity as per the governor’s orders due to COVID-19 – when Hamilton arrived. She sat in her car at one end of the church’s U-shaped driveway with about eight other cars lined up behind her, Hein said. Parishioners began to lightly beep their car horns when the line did not move. “She gets out of the car with a bag full of rocks… and fires four rocks through the fellowship hall,” he said. “If anyone was in there having coffee it would have killed them.”
According to Hein, Hamilton calmly got back into the car, which did not have license plates or a registration sticker, and drove away.
While Hein does not know exactly why Hamilton committed these acts, he believes one thing for sure – this was a bias crime. Most of the attacks were made on Sundays, a day of worship, and he considers the violence to be an “act of hatred.”
“Christian churches across the country are being attacked now, and I very much consider what has happened a bias crime against the Christian church,” he said. “Every single day I go to church with a knot in my stomach… that there will be more broken windows. But that was even elevated, that feeling of anxiety, because of her brazen attack Sunday morning.”
The church is now upgrading its campus’ security lighting, cameras and more.
Family Pastor Nick D’Angelo of New Monmouth Baptist told The Two River Times that they are currently cooperating with police and their investigation. “As a church we are committed to praying for the individual who caused this vandalism, loving/serving our neighbors and continuing to help those who call NMBC home to grow in their faith while impacting our community in this season.”
Hamilton has been charged with four counts of criminal mischief, three counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and one count of resisting arrest, according to the department. The charges stem from the incidents that occurred at the three churches July 19 and at Westminster Presbyterian July 26. She has since been processed and is being held in the Monmouth County Correctional Institution in Freehold.
The case is still under investigation by Det. First Class Darrin Simon. The police department asks that any organization that may have been a victim of vandalism or anyone with information about the investigation to call the Middletown Police Detective Bureau at 732-615-2120.
The article originally appeared in the July 30 – August 5, 2020 print edition of The Two River Times.
