A 37-year-old Maple Shade resident has been charged with “damaging and stealing LGBTQ flags” in the borough business district along Kings Highway.
Borough officials received reports about Joshua Serad on June 22 and identified him through witness reports and video evidence. At some point that morning, according to police, Serad allegedly ripped down seven flags, left, then returned sometime after noon and ripped down two more.
Serad was arrested at his home the next day and charged with criminal mischief and property destruction. A later charge of bias intimidation came after a review of the case.
Joana McDonnell, the borough’s communications officer, said the damage to flags amounted to about $300 and they have been replaced.
While the state does have a law against bias intimidation – an offense is committed against a protected class – it was believed the charge didn’t apply to the flag case because the alleged crime was committed against government property and not a person.
But Andrew McNeil, director of media relations for the Camden County Prosecutor’s office, said upon review of the case by its major crimes unit, Serad would also be charged with fourth-degree bias intimidation.
In a Facebook post, Myles Carrol described how he sat in front of Saxbys Coffee along Kings Highway on June 22 and saw a man driving through the borough, shouting expletives and ripping down the Pride flags.
Mayor Dave Siedell also posted to Facebook before Serad was identified to solicit information about the suspect.
“To the black-hearted, thin skinned, broflake who vandalized and stole the pride flags in Haddonfield …” he wrote, “buddy, try taking this down.”
The Pride flags – from the Partnership for Haddonfield – went up around town in 2023, but faced some pushback from the group’s then chair, Sean Leonard. He advised that he thought it was a slippery slope for the town to be involved in activism, and that he and then treasurer Gary Klosner would leave the board if that happened.
Klosner still serves on the board, but Leonard is no longer with the partnership.
In a similar statement to Facebook, Commissioner Itir Cole wrote that the flag vandalism shouldn’t be tolerated by the borough’s residents.
“That kind of emboldened hate only grows in silence,” she advised. “It’s the need to erase what you can’t tolerate. If you can make something invisible, you can pretend it doesn’t exist. These flags were simply visible. That’s it. And for some people, that alone is unbearable.
“The rainbow flag isn’t a political symbol, it’s a beacon of light that says, ‘Whoever you are, there’s a place for you here.’ That’s a Haddonfield value. And it’s not going anywhere.”
Cole also thanked those who offered to replace the flags.
” … That instinct says everything about this town,” Cole explained before the flags were replaced. “Downtown Haddonfield is already on it and they’ll (the flags) will be back up in a day or two. And if you disagree with these flags being here, I’d kindly ask you to look around.
“You are in the very small minority in this town, and these flags represent something our community has chosen together.”
One of the Pride flags along Kings Highway that was replaced after being ripped down on June 22 by a man who has now been charged.
