A West Hempstead man was indicted on aggravated harassment as a hate crime and other charges for calls he allegedly made to a Florida elected official in November 2023 that were threatening in nature and antisemitic.
Jacob Burbar, 60, was arraigned on March 14 before Judge Colin O’Donnell and charged with two counts of second-degree aggravated harassment as a hate crime (both Class E felonies) and two counts of second-degree aggravated harassment (both Class A misdemeanors). Burbar pleaded not guilty and was released to pre-trial services. An order of protection was also issued.
On November 11, 2023, beginning at approximately 6:00 p.m., Burbar allegedly called a Florida House of Representatives member’s office and left five voicemails. In the voicemails, he allegedly used numerous slurs and antisemitic language, as well as threatened to kill the legislator and her children.
On November 20, 2023, Burbar was arrested in West Hempstead by the Nassau County Police Department’s Special Investigations Squad.
Burbar is due back in court on May 1, 2024. If convicted, the defendant faces up to 1-1/3 to 4 years in prison.
“This defendant allegedly targeted an elected official in Florida after seeing videos posted on Instagram about the Hamas/Israel conflict and left several messages on her office voicemail with anti-Semitic slurs and horrific threats of violence against the legislator and her family,” said Nassau County District Attorney Anne Donnelly. “There is no excuse for spewing vitriol, targeting a person for their ethnicity, or threatening children. NCDA takes acts of hate seriously. Whenever my office receives an allegation that a hate crime was committed, we investigate it thoroughly. If there is evidence to support charges, we will prosecute the offenders.”