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Four suspects were arrested for allegedly pelting five Orthodox Jews in Lakewood with eggs from a moving vehicle on the second night of Shavuot May 19, an incident police are describing as a bias crime.

The Lakewood police, in cooperation with the Jackson police, arrested the suspects on May 24, charging them with bias intimidation and harassment.

The suspects are Stacey Krohn, a 23-year-old resident of Jackson; Edward Kerby Jr., a 25-year-old resident of Jackson; Amada Coady, 18, of New Albany, Pa.; and Mark Johnson, a 22-year-old resident of Bayville who had previously been charged with bias intimidation and harassment while on probation. Johnson's bail was set at $10,000.

At approximately 8 p.m., the police received a report about the incident, which occurred on East County Line Road near Park Avenue.

According to the Lakewood Police Department, the suspects traveled to a store in Brick beforehand with the intent of obtaining eggs to throw at Orthodox Jews in Lakewood.

On May 21, another incident occurred in which eggs were thrown at Orthodox Jewish residents of Lakewood, according to the police. At 3:49 p.m., a husband and wife pushing their child in a stroller were pelted with eggs while walking on Ridge Avenue near Brook Road. The parents initially thought it was garbage until they were home and saw "fragments" of egg shell on their child's stroller, said Chief Robert C. Lawson of the Lakewood Police Department. The case is currently under investigation.

Bias intimidation, a fourth degree crime, is punishable by up to 18 months in jail and a $10,000 fine.

"With these arrests, all of the suspects in the bias incidents occurring on [May 19] have been arrested and charged with serious crimes," Lawson said in a statement. "Hopefully, this will send a loud message out to any others who think that it is fun or acceptable to harass people based on their race, religion, ethnicity, gender, handicap, color, or sexual orientation."

Etzion Neuer, the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League's New Jersey Region, praised the Lakewood and Jackson police departments for "their swift work in making arrests in this senseless and bigoted assault."

"Although to some, throwing eggs may appear to be harmless fun, the victims were allegedly targeted because of their faith in an attempt to threaten and intimidate the Jewish community," Neuer said in a statement. "By charging the suspects with a bias crime we send a clear message to the perpetrators that hatred and bigotry will not be tolerated in New Jersey."

Also, on May 16 a drawing of a swastika was found on a slide at John Marshall Elementary School in Edison. Next to the drawing, the word "Hitler" was written in pen with a smiley face and a sentence critical of the school, according to Lt. Sal Filannino. The investigation is pending.