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Nancy Jones, 59, of Clifton, was charged with a trio of bias crimes after investigators identified her in connection with the April 30 attack at New Natural Nails on Lakeview Avenue, Passaic County Prosecutor Camelia Valdes and Clifton Police Chief Thomas Rinaldi said in a joint announcement.
Both U.S.-born girls – one 13, the other 15 -- were wearing hijabs at the time, they said.
“They do not belong here,” witnesses said Jones shouted while calling the girls “two little punks,” according to the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Jones allegedly shouted at the girls for looking at her. Witnesses said they tried to ignore her, but she persisted – and even shouted at a woman also wearing an Islamic headscarf whom she thought was their mother.
Jones approached the girls in “a harassing and tumultuous manner and told them to go back to their country,” a complaint on file in Superior Court in Paterson says. "During the incident, the actor struck the 13-year-old victim in the head."
The girls' mother found her daughters crying when she came to pick them up, then endured the same treatment in the parking lot from Jones, who cursed her and drove off, the council said.
The mom composed herself and got a cellphone pic of the vehicle and its license plate, CAIR said. That plus interviews with the girls and witnesses produced an arrest warrant for Jones, who surrendered to authorities on Wednesday.
“Physically and verbally attacking two young girls to the point of tears is appalling,” CAIR Executive Director Selaedin Maksut said. “We welcome the ongoing police investigation…and hope the matter is taken seriously and justice is done.”
Authorities charged Jones with bias intimidation, child endangerment and simple assault. A judge released her with conditions on Thursday, May 26, pending grand jury action.
Maksut’s agency reported 308 anti-Muslim hate and bias incidents throughout the United States in 2021 – including harassment, vandalism and assaults, some of which involved hijabs snatched from people’s heads.
ALSO SEE: CAIR-NJ Condemns Assault on Muslim Girls at Nail Salon, Welcomes Investigation
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