NORWICH – The Norwich Jewish Center, located at 70-76 South Broad St., was the target of a burglary this week, and due to the extent of the vandalism and the graffiti left at the scene, the Norwich Police Department is investigating the matter as a hate crime.

The burglary was reported to the department on Wednesday afternoon, but police are still trying to pinpoint the exact time of the incident. They are working to determine who was the last person in the building before the incident, but they are under the impression the event took place in the last few days.

The Jewish Center is located in a large, three story brick building, once the home of the Eaton family. Police have said the vandalism encompassed the entire area. “My estimate of the damage would be in the tens of thousands of dollars,” Angelino said.

Angelino explained that due to the nature of some of the graffiti, which included an anti-Semitic message inside the synagogue, the police are going to pursue the investigation as a hate crime. He explained a hate crime is defined as any one of a number of crimes that is committed in a manner that singles out an individual or group based on their race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or ethnicity.