3 charged after white supremacy pamphlets left at Hornell church, synagogue
A member of Rehoboth Deliverance Ministries in Hornell discovered a pamphlet stuck to the church door Sunday morning as individuals arrived for services, according to Marseena Harmonson, a longtime church member and assistant minister.
The flyer promoted the "Aryan National Army" and included a skull positioned inside a swastika.
“They brought it inside (the church) and showed everybody what was on the door. That, of course, sends fear," said Harmonson, who was not at the church Sunday morning but was told of the incident.
"Because of all that has happened over the last few years, months; especially what happened in Buffalo. People get scared," Harmonson added. "And when you have children, young people, older people, they don’t know what to think. A lot of them never experienced anything like this.”
Police said an identical flyer was also left at the Temple Beth-Elsynagogue on Church Street.
Now, three Hornell residents face more than 100 counts each of felony aggravated harassment, accused of leaving pamphlets promoting white supremacy that included swastikas and racial epithets at several locations in Hornell, including the East Avenue church, which is attended predominantly by African Americans, and at the synagogue.
Hornell police on Monday arrested Aubrey Dragonetti, 31, Dylan Henry, 30, and Ryan Mulhollen, 27, all of 131 River St., charging each with 115 counts of first-degree aggravated harassment.
Section 1 of the charge defines it as the "intent to harass, annoy, threaten or alarm another person, because of a belief or perception regarding such person’s race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation."
The suspects appeared in Steuben County centralized arraignment court on Monday. The Steuben County Jail listed Henry as held without bail. Dragonetti and Mulhollen were arraigned and released.
Police Chief T.J. Murray said an investigation began over the weekend after the pamphlets were left on private and public property around the City of Hornell.
“Our investigation revealed that the three of them were involved collectively to distribute this material," Murray said. “The day before we had some that showed up in various locations, two of them were on houses of worship in the Hornell community. So we were concerned about it, our patrol officers were on the alert the following night, and they actually intercepted these individuals in the process of doing it.
“The individuals were going around and affixing this material. They must have been doing it throughout the night, affixing it to private entities of the community and placing this material within their driveways and houses.”
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Murray said police executed a search warrant at 131 River St. and collected "the means by which they were producing these documents."
Murray said the search also turned up "a lot of their electronic equipment," adding, "(the suspects) were using the internet to recruit people, as they explained it to us.”
Murray said Hornell will not tolerate hate directed at any group.
"We in Hornell live in a peaceful, harmonious community and there is no place for harassment of any segment of our population," he said.
Harmonson is pleased by the arrests but is worried the suspects represent a larger threat.
“I’m glad, but they can’t be the only ones," she said. "If you are saying you are here, and you’re taking your America back, then there must be more than three.”
Hornell Police were assisted by the New York State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the FBI office in Rochester.
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This article originally appeared on The Evening Tribune: Hornell church, synagogue hit with white supremacist flyers
