Pretrial hearing set for March 25 in Chabad Jewish Center egging case
By Morgan Rothborne, Ashland.news
Zachary Ryan Demarest is due to appear in Jackson County Circuit Court later this month for a pretrial conference on charges he vandalized the Chabad Jewish Center of Southern Oregon in Ashland last year.
Demarest, 18, was charged with a misdemeanor charge of a bias crime in the second degree and two misdemeanor charges of criminal mischief in the second degree for an allegedly bias-motivated act of vandalism at the Chabad Jewish Center at 1474 Siskiyou Blvd. reported the morning of Dec. 14, 2023.
Demarest’s pretrial conference is scheduled for March 25. He was arrested, booked and released from the Jackson County Jail on Jan. 19. According to court documents, Demarest is prohibited from being on or near the premises of the Chabad Jewish Center as part of his release.
On Dec. 14, at 10:36 a.m. dispatch advised Ashland community service officer Denise Aguilera that, “an unknown juvenile egged,” the Jewish center, according to court documents. The officer reported seeing the egg residue and fragments on the building upon arrival and spoke to the building owner, Faigy Zweibel, who informed the officer she had video footage of the incident.
The footage shows two males and one female walking that night on the sidewalk of Siskiyou Boulevard near Golden Dynasty restaurant, across the street from Chabad Jewish Center.
As the three youths walked past the Chinese restaurant, one male ran into the parking lot of the center and threw an egg with his left hand. His companions appear to say “more” or “one more.” The male threw another egg, then ran from the building turning to yell “Heil Hitler,” while performing a Nazi salute in the direction of the Jewish center.
Ashland police contacted Southern Oregon University Campus Public Safety Officer Devlin Damico-lvy, who was able to find the three suspects on video leaving SOU’s Shasta Hall dormitory building and, after verifying his identity, Ashland police arrested Demarest Jan. 19, according to court documents.
Email Ashland.news reporter Morgan Rothborne at morganr@ashland.news.
March 12: Corrected spelling of Faigy Zweibel’s first name.
March 25: Hearing postponed to April 22 at request of defendant and his attorney, court records show.
