Woman Accused of Stabbing Chabad Rabbi With Syringe Claims Mistaken Identity; Judge Sets $50,000 Bail
by CrownHeights info
A Brooklyn woman accused of stabbing a young Chabad rabbi with what is believed to have been a syringe and attacking another visibly Jewish man in Midtown Manhattan appeared in court Sunday, where her attorney challenged the identification of her client and a judge set bail at $50,000.
Anna Mochalova, 32, faces multiple charges stemming from two alleged attacks on Jewish men in Manhattan’s Diamond District on Wednesday, October 21. Prosecutors say the incidents were motivated by antisemitism, alleging that the victims were selected because the suspect believed they were Jewish.
During Sunday’s arraignment in Manhattan Criminal Court, defense attorney Lila Carpenter argued that police may have identified the wrong person.
“These allegations are concerning. Whether they’re my client’s is a different story,” Carpenter told the court, according to the New York Post.
The attorney also noted that her client has no prior arrests and is gainfully employed, arguing that there may be an identification issue in the case.
Judge Linda Capitti nevertheless set bail at $50,000 cash, citing the seriousness of the allegations and surveillance footage connected to the incidents. Mochalova is scheduled to return to court on October 29.
According to prosecutors, the first alleged attack involved a 26-year-old Chabad rabbi identified publicly as Yosef, a Crown Heights resident who regularly travels to Manhattan to conduct Jewish outreach among merchants and workers in the Diamond District.
The young rabbi was walking near West 47th Street and Fifth Avenue when a woman allegedly followed him along the sidewalk before stabbing him in the lower back with an object believed to be a syringe. He suffered an injury and was taken to Bellevue Hospital for treatment.
Just minutes after the alleged attack on Yosef, prosecutors say Mochalova approached another Jewish man wearing a yarmulke approximately two blocks away. According to the allegations, she repeatedly bumped into him, causing a painful sensation in his right arm, and threatened to shoot him if he did not leave the area. The man reportedly sustained lacerations.
Prosecutors also described a third encounter in which the suspect allegedly approached another man but left him alone after he identified himself as Muslim.
Assistant District Attorney Emily Hong emphasized the alleged pattern of conduct during the court proceeding.
“She selected both of her targets because she believed them to be Jewish,” Hong said.
The incidents are being investigated as suspected antisemitic attacks, and the charges against Mochalova include hate-crime allegations.
