Ocean County Teen's Tweets About Bombing Jews 'Not Criminal,' Prosecutor Says

The teenage daughter of a State Police sergeant who tweeted a photo of herself dressed like Hitler and captioned a photo of a gathering spot for Orthodox Jews as “perfect bombing time” may have been offensive, but her behavior doesn’t rise to the level of criminal, officials told the Asbury Park Press.

Al Della Fave, spokesman for the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office, told the Press that the prosecutor’s office examined the tweets by the girl, as well as several posts by the girl and her friends that were later deleted, and found they did not pose a credible threat to the community.

“I in no way want to downplay the seriousness of their actions, but this is just teenagers doing tremendously inappropriate things and showed a total lapse in judgment on their part,” Della Fave told The Lakewood Scoop.

He told the Asbury Park Press that the fact the girl’s father is a State Police sergeant played no role in the way the investigation was handled.

“Everything was evaluated at face value,” Della Fave told the Press. “We have been assured by the families and the school that this is something that will be handled.”

The photos and tweets of the girl and several other Jackson teenagers first came to light when they were retweeted -- shared -- by another Twitter user, Malei Rikud, in late January. Rikud dedicates much of his Twitter feed to exposing Anti-Semitic comments. It was his retweets of the photos that brought them to the attention of authorities.

The Twitter account the girl used to share the photos -- including one of a Rita’s Italian Ice location that she labeled “perfect bombing time” -- has been deleted, and friends who retweeted her photos and commented on them have set their Twitter accounts to private.

Avi Schnall, director of Agudath Israel of New Jersey, told The Lakewood Scoop he respected the decision of the Prosecutor’s Office, but added that people need to consider the larger implications of the teens’ behavior on social media.

“We have great faith and confidence in the Ocean County Prosecutors decision not to press charges,” he told The Lakewood Scoop. “Some people might dismiss these pictures and say that these are just immature teenagers fooling around, but when Hitler becomes another costume that teenagers dress up in, and bombing a group of Jews becomes humorous, that tells us something is very wrong with our society, and we need to be cautious.”