Woman Arrested, Charged With Vandalizing Four Middletown Churches

MIDDLETOWN, NJ — Update, Tuesday evening: Middletown Police Chief R. Craig Weber announced an arrest in this case. Arrested on Tuesday is Natalee A. Hamilton, 34, of Middletown. Hamilton is charged with four counts of criminal mischief, three counts of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer, and one count of resisting arrest.

As of Tuesday evening, she is at the Monmouth County Jail in Freehold.

“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 Chief Weber. “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.”

Middletown Police say a number of churches in the Township have been vandalized this summer, and the same suspect, a woman, is thought to be behind all the crimes.

Churches that have been targeted include Westminster Presbyterian Church, at 94 Tindall Road, New Monmouth Baptist Church at 4 Cherry Tree Farm Road and Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses at 743 Leonardville Road.

In each incident, the woman smashed out the building windows with rocks.

The vandalism first occurred at Westminster Presbyterian Church on June 1, say Middletown police. New Monmouth Baptist was vandalized on July 14. All three houses of worship were then vandalized on July 19, all three in one day.

This past Sunday, July 26, Westminster Presbyterian church was vandalized yet a third time. The initial incidents occurred overnight, said police.

However, Sunday's incident at Westminster Presbyterian Church happened during broad daylight, occurring at 11:05 a.m., while parishioners were at the church.

Middletown police say the suspect has been captured on security camera in several of the incidents; images are pictured above. She is an African-American woman, mid 20s to mid 30s, driving a silver or gray Chevy Malibu. She wears a blue face mask while throwing the rocks.

Although there is no information regarding the car registration, the car does have a trailer hitch and there is a noticeable dent in the rear passenger side bumper, said police.

The matter is being treated as a possible bias crime and is currently under investigation by Detective First Class Darrin Simon. Anyone with information is asked to call the Middletown Police Detective Bureau at (732) 615-2120.

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