Rubin Ublies. Photo: NYPD.

Police have apprehended a man they believe committed a string of hate crimes in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn.

According to the New York Times, Rubin Ublies was taken into custody Wednesday in connection with the burning of 11 mezuzahs inside an Ultra-Orthodox Jewish apartment complex in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn on Monday, which was Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day. An additional mezuzah was discovered burned inside the apartment building next door a day later.

Authorities say they used facial recognition to identify Ublies. Police say Ublies has an extensive criminal history that includes nearly 50 arrests on robbery, drug, assault, weapons and other charges.

“This was a brazen act of religious desecration, and it is something that is shocking to everyone in this community,” City Councilman Stephen Levin told New York’s WABC television station.