N. Hanover Swastika trio receive probation

Three North Hanover men received sentences involving probation, prison and reporting on anti-racist material for having carved a swastika in a Mansfield cornfield and other bias crimes in 1996.

Jeffrey Harvey, 24, Jason Gancarz, 22, and Daniel Sentak, 23 were sentenced to terms of probation during the latest court proceeding involving the 'Crew' a racist group which operated in North Hanover and perpetrated bias crimes around the area.

The trio faced Superior Court Judge Marvin Scholosser who held their jail time until the end of their serving their probation at which time each can apply to have their time permanently suspended.

Gancarz received five years of probation and 150 days of jail time and 500 hours of community service while harvey and Sentak were sentenced to four years of probation and 120 days in jail and 400 hours of community service. Each man pled guilty in September.

Each must read or watch "Gandhi and "Schindler's List and submit a 500-word report on each as well as read Alex Haley's "Roots" and "Native Son" and write a 1,000 report on each. The reports will focus on the issue of hatred and what it did to the people who were targets of it.

Judge Scholosser will issue a pass or fail grade. The latter of which will count as a violation of their probation.

Each apologized for their part in the 70-foot Nazi symbol which pilots spotted from the air when returning over McGuire Air Force Base three years ago. The trio were part of the last 11 defendants of 'The Crew' to be sentenced. The others were also charged and were convicted of harassing minority and handicapped residents of several communities in Burlington County.

The suspended jail sentences did not please those present who represented anti-hate groups but they were pleased that the judge imposed a jail sentence "We are extremely distressed that the sentence was effectively suspended," Shai Goldstein, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League was reported to say.

Family members of Estella Simms, an elderly black woman who died months after being harassed by the group also felt the jail terms should have stood. Roosevelt Nesmith, leader of the Southern Burlington County chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People also expressed disappointment with the suspended jail terms.

Each 'Crew' member spent two days in jail when they were first arrested. "Politics played a part in this decision," according to Nesmith who charged that the state's case against the trio was weak.

The fact that the trio as well as their fellow defendants had clean records outside these charges allowed for more liberal sentencing according to Deputy Attorney General Robin Parker.

Gancarz reported that he learned his lesson and had heard some "frightening comments"and that items had been tossed at him by his fellow inmates during his brief time in jail.