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Dion Marsh, 27, of Manchester, originally was charged locally with three counts of attempted murder and bias intimidation after police said he ran down two men and stabbed another in the chest last weekend.
U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger announced on Wednesday, April 20 that his office and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division was prosecuting Marsh, as well.
The FBI charged Marsh with four counts of violating the federal Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act and one count of carjacking.
Marsh deliberately injured the four victims and attempted to kill and cause injuries with dangerous weapons to three of them “all because they were Jewish,” Sellinger said.
Two of the victims, including the stabbed Orthodox Jew, remained in critical but stable condition, authorities said.
An anonymous caller identified March for local police after recognizing him in a security video of a carjacking that ignited the day-long spree, court papers on file in Ocean County show.
Police who arrested Marsh at his home said they found him in bed holding “what appeared to be” a machete on his chest.
He told them the attacks “had to be done” because Hasidic Jews are “the real devils,” the complaint says.
Sellinger provided a timeline of events:
At 1:18 p.m. on April 8, 2022, Marsh forced a visibly identifiable Orthodox Jewish man out of his car in Lakewood, assaulting and injuring him in the process. Marsh took control of the man’s car and drove away. A surveillance video in the area captured Marsh arriving in the area prior to the carjacking and assault.
At 6:06 p.m., Marsh was in Lakewood driving a different car when he deliberately struck another visibly identifiable Orthodox Jewish man with the vehicle, attempting to kill the victim and causing him to suffer several broken bones.
At 6:55 p.m., Marsh, once again driving the vehicle that he had stolen from the first victim, attempted to kill another visibly identifiable Orthodox Jewish man. Marsh used the stolen vehicle to deliberately strike the man, who was walking in Lakewood. Marsh got out of the vehicle and stabbed the man in the chest with a knife, causing the victim to suffer a stab wound and other injuries.
At 8:23 p.m., Marsh, still driving the vehicle that he had stolen from the first victim, used it to deliberately strike another visibly identifiable Orthodox Jewish man who was walking in nearby Jackson Township, New Jersey, attempting to kill the man and causing him to suffer several broken bones and internal injuries.
At midnight on April 9, 2022, law enforcement officers arrested Marsh at his residence.
Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI’s Newark Division Red Bank Resident Agency, police from Lakewood and Jackson Township, Ocean County Sheriff’s officers, prosecutors and detectives of the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office and the New Jersey State Police for the investigation that produced the charges.
Assistant U.S. Attorney R. Joseph Gribko of his Civil Rights Division is handling the case federally.
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