Individual who targeted local Jewish community member reaches plea deal
Ivo Dylan Stjepovic cut Israeli flag
Ivo Dylan Stjepovic is required to spend 30 hours volunteering at a Jewish institution and to have no contact with Deena Blumenfeld or her family as part of a Feb. 24 plea deal.
Stjepovic was arrested earlier this year after cutting an Israeli flag Blumenfeld had on her property in the Mexican War Streets neighborhood.
The vandalism was the fourth time Blumenfeld’s house was targeted in less than two years.
In 2024, a vandal spray-painted the antisemitic phrase “For blood and soil” outside of her home and left antisemitic literature. Another individual stole the Israeli flag Blumenfeld placed in her yard and threw it into a nearby trash can. A third individual, Michael Lawlor, was arrested after continually spitting on her flag.
Most recently, a fifth person targeted Blumenfeld, shouting obscenities and leaving threats at her home. He is scheduled to be arraigned on March 30.
Blumenfeld said she was pleased with the “swift, straightforward resolution” to the Sjtepovic case.
The perpetrator, she said, was “appropriately conciliatory and understood why his actions were problematic.”
“The plea is appropriate to the degree of crime, and I am satisfied with it,” she said. PJC
David Rullo can be reached at drullo@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
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