Arrested with women charged with defacing NYT building

A Cold Spring photographer who has documented protests against the Gaza war was arrested on Sept. 28 on charges of threatening an editor at The New York Times over its coverage of the conflict.

Alexa Wilkinson, 38, was detained after officers from the New York Police Department, with assistance from the state and Cold Spring police, executed a search warrant at a residence in the village. Investigators were on the scene for several hours.

That same day, police arrested Sarah Schaff, 30, on charges that she vandalized The Times building on Eighth Avenue with red paint at 4 a.m. on July 30 and Anna Owens, 24, for being "a lookout." Cleaning up and repairing the damage cost $108,000, according to investigators. The two women were protesting The Times' coverage, which they consider biased against Palestinians, according to prosecutors.

All three were arraigned Monday (Sept. 29) on single felony charges - Wilkinson for second-degree aggravated harassment as a hate crime and Owens and Schaff for second-degree criminal mischief. Wilkinson returns to court on Nov. 17.

Wilkinson "is a respected photojournalist with no criminal record," The Legal Aid Society told The New York Times. Wilkinson "did not participate in or encourage any unlawful activity," it said, and the charge is "wholly unfounded."

According to the criminal complaint, the charge against Wilkinson stems not from the vandalism but from a post that appeared on Instagram that targeted Joseph Kahn, executive editor of The Times, who is Jewish.

In a complaint obtained from the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, a detective with the NYPD's Bias Incident Investigations Unit said a person identified as Wilkinson shared a post that read: "They hanged newspaper editors at Nuremberg," the German city where the Allies tried Nazi officials following World War II. Police said the post was captioned: "Looking at you [Kahn]."

A month after the damage to the Times building, someone using red paint vandalized the apartment building where Kahn lives. The investigation into that incident is ongoing, according to the complaint.

Last November, a New York City videographer was indicted on felony hate crime charges after he recorded protestors hurling red paint at the homes of the director and president of the Brooklyn Museum. According to a criminal complaint, Samuel Seligson, 31, traveled with the group as it spray-painted doors and sidewalks with messages that accused the two leaders of supporting genocide.

Seligson's attorney, Leena Widdi, said her client was acting in his capacity as a credentialed member of the media, describing the hate crime charges as an "appalling" overreach by police and prosecutors.

A law enforcement official at the time described Seligson as a participant who was not directly involved in the property damage. Seligson returns to court on Oct. 15 and, according to court records, is considering a plea offer.

The Associated Press contributed reporting.