By JOSEPH KELLARD
Garabet Badrajan, 53, called the Town of Hempstead Tax Office in Hempstead on the morning of Wednesday, Aug. 21 to complain about a tax bill, and he allegedly made remarks that upset the clerk, who then transferred his call to the supervisor's voice mail, said Dt. John Giambrone of the Third Squad.
Badrajan message stated "we will be bombed out of the system, we did not take a lesson from 9-11 or Oklahoma City and there will be international justice," according to documents from the First District Court in Hempstead.
A town spokesperson said that police were immediately notified about the message, and detectives arrested Badrajan that afternoon at his home in Oceanside.
A person is guilty of making a terroristic threat, a felony for which Badrajan was charged, "when with intent to...influence the policy of a unit of government by intimidation or coercion...he or she threatens to commit or cause to be committed a specific offense and thereby causes a reasonable expectation or fear of the imminent commission of such offense." This law became effective on Sept. 17, 2001, in the wake of Sept. 11 attacks, and holds a maximum penalty of 7 years.
While Badrajan has no prior arrests, detectives are investigating whether he has links to terrorist groups, Giambrone said.
Badrajan came to the United States seeking political asylum in 1987 from his native Romania, then under control of Communist dictators, said his wife, Georgeta, with whom he has two 17-year-old twin boys.
"My husband is not a terrorist, and this is all a very terrible mistake," she explained. "We are intelligent, educated people and we understand about a lot of things that are going on. My husband tells the truth and sometimes he tells it in a hard way. We came to this country, believe in the system, I work hard and we are very honest people and we've never did wrong to anybody, and now [Badrajan's arrest] is like a betrayal."
The couple had returned from shopping when detectives arrived at their Oceanside home later on Wednesday to arrest Badrajan. Georgeta questions why, if her husband is suspected of being a terrorists, detectives failed to search their home.
"The investigation into him and his connections will be continuing, but as of now there is nothing to identify him with anyone else," Giambrone told the Herald.
Badrajan is being held without bail at the Nassau County Correction Facility, said a spokesperson from First District Court, and his case is scheduled to go to court on Sept. 23.
