No Signs Of Anti-Semitism In Thomas's Wurtsboro Cabin

Before Grafton Thomas, the alleged Monsey machete attacker, moved back to his mom's house in Greenwood Lake in Orange County, he lived alone for two years in a cabin in Wurtsboro. And the piles of papers, books and bulletin board posts that his mother, attorney and investigators found Wednesday there show clear signs of deep mental illness but no anti-Semitic or terrorist themes, lawyer Michael Sussman told the media Thursday.

"It was a very, very sad and tragic existence just from what I saw," Sussman said. The FBI had not been to the cabin, he said. Federal investigators did search the Greenwood Lake house he had lived in since September 2018. They used evidence from that search as part of their criminal complaint charging Grafton with hate crimes.

Federal prosecutors allege that about 100 people were at the home of Rabbi Chaim Leibowitz Rottenberg in Rockland County Saturday night when Grafton entered, slashed four people, then fled. A fifth person was injured in the melee.

Thomas was arrested in New York City Saturday night. Police said he was covered in blood and smelled of bleach and that a machete and knife were in the van. He was arraigned Sunday in Ramapo and held on $5 million bail. He faces local attempted murder charges and federal hate-crime charges.

Sussman said he had asked the Rockland County District Attorney's Office to do a 30-day psychiatric evaluation of Thomas, but was told they were going ahead with a grand jury presentation Friday.

Sussman said he was concerned that politicians in particular had been quick to label Grafton as a terrorist.

"We have someone who has a discernable, longstanding pattern of mental illness, a mother who's an RN who's calling repeatedly for assistance," he said, saying the system had repeatedly failed. Thomas has a long history of mental illness and hospitalizations, but no history of violence and no convictions.

Thomas is at Westchester County Correctional Facility in Valhalla. Sussman said he planned to visit him Friday with a psychiatrist, and one of his priorities was finding out what medicines have been prescribed.

"As far as we know, he's not taking any medications," Sussman said. Sussman said he had visited Thomas's Greenwood Lake home after the FBI search and found an unopened pill bottle with Thomas's prescription for a drug commonly prescribed for schizophrenia, and that there were 13 pill bottles for prescribed medications found in the Wurstboro cabin.

"I went to Wurtsboro not knowing what I would find," Sussman said. He, investigators from his office, Thomas's mom Kim Kennedy, and Kennedy's pastor, the Rev. Wendy Paige, went to the cabin. There was so much that could be pertinent to the case, he said, that they packed it up rather than leaving it there. He had someone videotape everything they did, and he has a forensic investigator, Michael Archer, archiving it all. They expect to finish the archiving by Monday and have told the Rockland DA's office they will share it, he said.

Archer, who has expertise in forensics and counter-terrorism, said he had read 100 pages so far and not seen anti-Semitic or terrorist themes. He and Sussman acknowledged that they had not seen the evidence removed from the Greenwood Lake home, on which the hate-crime charges were based.

Editor's Note: Grafton Thomas's name was reversed in the original version of this report. Patch regrets the error.

SEE ALSO:

• $5 Million Bail For Man Accused In Hanukkah Stabbings
• Family: Hanukkah Stabbing Suspect Had Mental Illness History
• Rockland Attack Latest In Region's Series of Hate Crimes
• Feds: Man Accused In Hanukkah Stabbing Had Anti-Semitic Materials
• In Wake Of Monsey Attack, U.S. Senators Offer Support
• Heroic Hanukkah Celebrant Honored: Lowey
• Hudson Valley Attack Horrifies Local, State, National Officials