Woman pleads guilty to vandalizing Jewish buildings in Pittsburgh

Megan Guza, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on May 15, 2025

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PITTSBURGH — A woman pleaded guilty Thursday to her role in vandalizing several Jewish institutions in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood last year, records show.

Talya Lubit pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy. She initially also faced two counts of defacing a religious building. As part of the plea agreement, she's responsible for restitution totaling roughly $10,500 to the Jewish Federation, Chabad of Squirrel Hill, and the City of Pittsburgh.

Lubit was arrested in late October alongside Mohamad Hamad, a former Air National Guardsman who was a member of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard's 171st Refueling Wing until he was barred from the facility in September.

"Jews 4 Palestine" was spray-painted on a wall at Chabad of Squirrel Hill overnight July 28 into July 29. A few miles away, a sign outside the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh was defaced to read that the organization "funds genocide."

Investigators said a dark-colored convertible sedan was captured on security cameras near Chabad of Squirrel Hill and the Jewish Federation. The same vehicle was seen at a Walmart in Robinson where, according to the complaint, security footage captured Hamad buying a can of Rust-Oleum brand "Strawberry Fields" red spray paint the day before the buildings were vandalized.

Officials with the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh wrote in a statement that while the plea "marks a significant step toward justice, we are mindful that there are still two co-defendant and this remains one chapter in a painful case for our community."

Messages that investigators allege Lubit sent to Hamad using the Signal app indicate she was initially hesitant to participate in the vandalism. She is Jewish, according to the text messages.

"If I join you in doing graffiti on this building it matters to me that it is done in good taste," she wrote in part on July 27, two days before the graffiti appeared on the buildings.

She later wrote: "trying to make it ugly and abnoxious (sic) feels like borderline desecration of religious place ... Like right before the line."

Investigators said Hamad's side of the lengthy exchange was wiped from his phone.

Sentencing is set for Aug. 20. Lubit faces a maximum of two years in prison and a $200,000 fine.

A superseding indictment filed earlier this year accused Hamad of lying to government officials during his military security clearance hearing.

According to that indictment, Hamad told others that even though he had joined the U.S. Air Force, "it's still Palestine on top." In a separate voice note, he allegedly told someone else: "Don't get me wrong, my dear, Lebanon, Palestine are my country and they are on top, and at the end of the day, (expletive) off Israel and all her friends."

The new indictment also accuses Hamad of conspiring with 22-year-old Micaiah Collins to make and detonate homemade explosives. He told her in late June that supplies had come in the mail and he'd "made that big shell."

"It's way bigger than I expected," he wrote, followed by "I'm actually scared of it a bit" and "But I want to light it."

Collins, authorities alleged, shared her excitement: "Cuz wen we do the THING.. w the THING oh yeaaaaa its OVERRR" and "bros ankles GONE!!!"

A status conference for Hamad is scheduled for July 29, though court records note that it could be a change of plea hearing, indicating that Hamad, too, might reach a plea agreement. A similar hearing is scheduled for Collins on July 31.

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