Dasch’s Father: Son’s MySpace Page Hijacked

by Doug Chandler
Special To The Jewish Week

The father of 17-year-old son Jordan Dasch, one of seven Long Island teens charged in the modern-day lynching of an Ecuadorian immigrant, has claimed that his son never created a hate-filled profile on MySpace, as one group believes he did.
“He didn’t do this,” said Lawrence Dasch, a resident of Medford and a kosher butcher, referring to the MySpace profile, which was downloaded by a pro-immigrant organization, Long Island Wins, on Nov. 9, the day after the murder. “Another kid took his e-mail address,” creating what MySpace calls an “imposter profile,” Dasch added.
The father also denied that his son committed any of the acts attributed to him, echoing the younger Dasch’s plea of innocence.
The elder Dasch made his comments to The Jewish Week

on Monday, shortly after Suffolk County prosecutors announced upgraded criminal charges against his son and six other teens, all students at Patchogue-Medford High School.
All the defendants are charged with gang assault against Marcelo Lucero, 37, an immigrant who lived in Patchogue and worked at a dry-cleaning business in Riverhead, L.I. Six of the defendants allegedly surrounded the murder victim, while a seventh, Jeffrey Conroy, allegedly plunged a knife into the immigrant’s chest.
Conroy, 17, is now facing an upgraded charge of second-degree murder as a hate crime, as well as manslaughter and other crimes. Jordan Dasch, meanwhile, is facing a new charge of second-degree assault as a hate crime for allegedly attacking another Hispanic man, Marlon Garcia, with a BB-gun on the same day as Lucero’s murder. The attack is said to have taken place in front took place in front of Garcia’s Patchogue home at 5 a.m., but Garcia escaped harm.
Jordan Dasch has reportedly admitted to authorities that he had a BB-gun that day but denies that he fired it then.
Lucero’s murder and the attack on Garcia were both part of a brutal spree that allegedly began after one of the teens suggested they go “beaner jumping,” authorities said. The term is a derogatory one used as a euphemism for attacking Latinos.
While Jewish leaders in the area condemned the crime, led by the American Jewish Committee’s Long Island Chapter and its Latino-Jewish Council, word gradually leaked out about Jordan Dasch’s heritage. The teen was a familiar face to some who shopped at the Kosher Food Emporium in Plainview, where he and his mother, Bobbie, occasionally worked. He was also described by family friends as a loner who was often picked on by classmates because his father is Jewish.
But what gained the most attention was the discovery by Long Island Wins of a MySpace profile apparently created by Jordan Dasch. The profile, removed from the social-networking site only hours later, featured a picture of a Jewish star with a Nazi swastika embedded in the middle. Underneath the star, in a section titled “About Me,” the profile’s creator wrote, “You can call me a Nazi Jew,” words followed by a smile icon.
Contacted by a reporter Monday night, Lawrence Dasch said the attention has hurt his entire family, as well as his business. He urged a reporter to “let this aspect of the story die,” a reference to accounts of his son’s involvement.
“What I’m asking for is a little understanding before we get to the bottom of this,” the father said. “We don’t have the full facts.”
Regarding the criminal charges, Lawrence Dasch said he wouldn’t comment on advice from his lawyer, Michael Gajdos. But he repeated his son’s claim of innocence, saying, “I’m telling you now that he didn’t do it.” Family friends told The Jewish Week last week that, according to the father, the son said he remained in the back of the gang of teens as they beat Lucero.
Dasch also said that his son had met Conroy only “a few days” before the murder. “He doesn’t hang out in the same circles as this kid,” the father said. “I never even heard the kid’s name before this.”
Conroy has a tattoo of a swastika on one of his legs, authorities said.
Left unsaid was whether Jordan Dasch or his family owned a BB-gun and why a 17-year-old would be allowed to roam through town on his own in the wee hours of the morning or late at night. Prosecutors have said it was Jordan Dasch who owned and drove the SUV in which the other teens were riding that day.
The staff member at Long Island Wins who downloaded the MySpace profile, Lisa Votino-Tarrant, said it’s “possible” that someone else created Dasch’s space, but she considers it unlikely. For one, she said, creating such a page often takes two or three hours, time that few teenagers seldom have. The main photo on the page resembled another picture of Jordan Dasch, taken since his arrest, and the last log-in was on Nov. 8, the day of the murder, she said.
Suffolk County investigators have been in touch with MySpace’s legal department to discuss the profile, said Tommy Johnson, a policy enforcement specialist with the company. The profile violated the site’s policies, which prohibit hate profiles, Johnson said. He added that the profile is now the subject of an “ongoing investigation” by both law-enforcement officials and MySpace.com.
As the investigation moves forward, AJC’s Latino-Jewish Council is planning to join other groups, including the Long Island Immigrant Alliance, in a Dec. 2 rally at the Suffolk County Legislature.
Meanwhile, Joel Levy, New York regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, said Jewish involvement in hate crimes is “very, very rare.” So, too, are cases of self-hating Jews, said Steven K. Baum, a clinical psychologist who has studied self-loathing among Jews.

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