Palm Beach police cite 4 with 'littering' antisemitic material; fourth incident in county this month
Palm Beach Police issued “littering” citations to four men Saturday for distributing antisemitic flyers to private residences on the island, a department spokesman said Sunday.
The arrests of the out-of-state individuals came at 5 p.m., shortly after police sent out an alert to residents to report any antisemitic material they may have received.
Police identified the men as David Y. Kim, 60, of Pennsylvania; Jonathan K. Baldwin, 27, of Indiana; Jon E. Minadeo II, 40, of California; and Nicholas A. Bysheim, 33, of Maryland.
Minadeo is a well-known antisemitic agitator from Sonoma County, Calif., who boasted on social media last year that he had been handcuffed and arrested for “hate speech” outside the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland. He leads an extremist group called the Goyim Defense League and its platform Goyim TV, which has distributed antisemitic flyers in cities across the country, according to national hate-group monitors.
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In December, Minadeo announced he had moved the Bay Area-founded group to Florida.
Bysheim was arrested by Atlantis Police on Jan. 21 for obstructing a law enforcement officer without violence after receiving a littering citation for “throwing antisemitic hate speech flyers” on residents’ lawns, police said.
The Palm Beach island littering citations came after police say the men distributed flyers to residences.
Contained in weighted, zipped plastic bags, the flyers decry nationally elected and appointed Jewish officials in relation to gun control, “the COVID agenda,” allegations that U.S. media are controlled by Jewish interests and the Biden Administration in general.
Palm Beach Town Council President Margaret Zeidman found one of the antisemitic packages on her doorstep. When she walked around her neighborhood later, she says she spotted others in “about two-thirds” of the homes near hers.
“It’s unfortunate that ignorance and hatred are not a crime. Littering and trespassing are,” Zeidman said Sunday. “At this point in time, there isn’t any other legal or law enforcement action that can be taken by the town, though I find it very frustrating.”
Hate crime charges in this case are unlikely, according to a Palm Beach Police spokesman.
“We do not anticipate that at this time, due to the non-criminal infraction status of the littering citations and the current state statutes regarding hate crimes,” Capt. Will Rothrock said in an email.
Banking on the First Amendment, antisemitic provocateurs have found “a way to spread their hate that just tries to skirt the law,” Palm Beach County Mayor Gregg Weiss said Sunday.
“We’ll continue to look for legal avenues available to combat what they’re doing and new laws to address their latest techniques,” he said. “I will continue to work with other folks in our community to do everything in our power to not allow these people to spread their hate and divisiveness in Palm Beach County.”
The Palm Beach packages incident follows similar antisemitic occurrences in West Palm Beach and Boca Raton, in addition to Atlantis.
On Jan. 14, West Palm Beach police learned about antisemitic messages projected onto the side of a building. Police say they discovered two masked men with a rental truck, projector and generator. No arrests have been made in that incident.
Also in January, Boca Raton residents discovered antisemitic flyers on their front yards and driveways. Like the Palm Beach flyers, these were in zipped plastic bags.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Palm Beach cites 4 with littering for distributing antisemitic flyers
