Cleveland OH – Man Charged In Synagogue Blast Ordered Returned To LA

Cleveland OH – A transient allegedly responsible for a potentially deadly explosion outside a Santa Monica synagogue was ordered today to be returned to Los Angeles from Ohio to face charges stemming from the blast.

A federal judge in Cleveland ordered 60-year-old Ron Hirsch transferred to Los Angeles by the U.S. Marshals Service, according to FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller, who said that a timetable was not immediately available for the transfer.

Hirsch is believed responsible for an explosion about 6:10 a.m. last Thursday that caused a 250-pound steel pipe partially encased in concrete to come crashing through the roof of a home next to the Chabad House Lubavich synagogue on 17th Street near Broadway.

No one was injured, but a 12-year-old child was asleep in the room below the roof where the projectile landed, according to a federal arrest warrant.

Los Angeles County prosecutors charged Hirsch on Tuesday with four felony counts — one count each of explosion with intent to murder, use of a destructive device and explosive to injure or destroy, possession of a destructive device near a public place and possession of a destructive device near a residence.

Those state charges — which carry a potential life prison term — were filed shortly after Hirsch was charged in federal court with flight to avoid prosecution for damaging or destroying a building

Authorities at first said the blast, which broke windows and punched a hole 2 1/2 feet in diameter in the rooftop of the synagogue-adjacent home, was accidental but later determined that explosives had been used.

A receipt found at the scene for three 11-pound bags of a “demolition agent” purchased in Clovis and sent to the suspect at a Santa Monica address was linked to Hirsch, according to the warrant.

Officials said plumbing tape, empty dry ice bags, pieces of rebar, bags of cement and a steel pipe wrench were also found at the scene.

Hirsch was arrested near a Chabad House in the Ohio suburb of Cleveland Heights on Monday after showing up at the synagogue and asking the rabbi for a place to stay.

The FBI said Hirsch — also known as Israel Fisher — is a transient known to spend time seeking charity from synagogues and other Jewish community centers. He is known to beg outside synagogues, including Congregation Bais Yehuda on North La Brea Avenue, according to Santa Monica police.

Hirsch was believed to have boarded a Greyhound bus the same day as the Santa Monica explosion, the motive for which is unknown, according to the FBI.

A man using the name J. Fisher — a known alias used by Hirsch — purchased a Greyhound bus ticket to New York that was scheduled to arrive there on Sunday, after stops in at least 10 destinations, including Ohio, Eimiller said. He was spotted inside a synagogue in Cleveland, where a man recognized him from photos published on Vos Iz Neias and called the police.