New Mexico Man Facing Federal Hate Crime Charge Following Attacks at Local Synagogue and Jewish Community Center

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Press Release
An Albuquerque, New Mexico man is in custody on federal charges for allegedly damaging religious property during back-to-back attacks at two local Jewish facilities.
According to court documents, on June 2, Rex Crofton, 25, targeted two Jewish community facilities in Albuquerque, New Mexico, during a series of motivated attacks. At approximately 4:31 PM, Crofton arrived at Congregation Albert in a silver sedan. He exited the vehicle and used a tool to shatter the synagogue’s glass entry doors. After “flipping off” the building and shouting an indecipherable statement, he fled the scene. Roughly eight minutes later, at 4:39 PM, Crofton arrived at the Jewish Community Center (JCC). Surveillance footage captured him running to the front doors and repeatedly striking them with a metal tool appearing to be a crowbar. When JCC security guards approached and pursued him, Crofton threw the tool into his passenger window. A security guard managed to pepper spray Crofton through the window before Crofton sped out of the busy parking lot. The incident forced the JCC to issue an emergency closure, disrupting camp pickup and alarming numerous witnesses.
Following the attacks, Crofton sent threatening text messages to a family friend, boasting, “... I just hit two synagogues in 5 minutes,” and stating he would love to kill any police officers who intervened. Law enforcement tracked Crofton to an Albuquerque residence, where he surrendered and was arrested on June 3, by the Albuquerque Police Department. A subsequent federal search warrant executed on his residence and vehicles uncovered the crowbar-like wrecking bar used in the attack, the clothing he wore, a revolver, high-capacity magazines, various other weapons including a machete and brass knuckles, and a torn Ukrainian flag defaced with a drawn swastika.
Crofton is charged with damage to religious property. If convicted of the current charge, the defendant faces up to three years in prison.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Ryan Ellison for the District of New Mexico, and Special Agent in Charge Justin A. Garris of the FBI Albuquerque Field Office made the announcement today.
The FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office investigated this case with assistance from the Albuquerque Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tavo Hall and Meg Melick for the District of New Mexico and Trial Attorney Taylor Payne of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division are prosecuting the case.
A criminal complaint is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.