A 75-year-old Long Island man who admitted waging a months-long campaign of terror against Jewish residents and businesses in Montauk walked out of jail with nothing more than probation, after a bureaucratic technicality erased the five-day sentence he was supposed to serve for his antisemitic crimes.

Michael Nicholoulias, of Montauk, pleaded guilty in August to two felony hate-crime charges after painting swastikas and violent phrases including “Jews Die” and “Jews Burn” on storefronts, fences, benches, and public signs across the East End from October through December 2023.

“I am guilty of everything,” Nicholoulias admitted to prosecutors.

Police ultimately tracked the vandal through a GPS device attached to his 2004 PT Cruiser, following the signal to Ditch Plains on Dec. 4, 2023, where officers caught him red-handed spray-painting a swastika on a public bench near the bathrooms. Nearby signs were already covered in his toxic, hateful scrawl.

Nicholoulias also explicitly confessed that he targeted specific properties because they were Jewish-owned.

Despite pleading guilty to hate crimes — and despite the fear and financial damage caused to Jewish families and business owners — Nicholoulias received just five days in Suffolk County jail under a plea deal approved by District Attorney Ray Tierney’s office.

But even that symbolic punishment evaporated instantly.

Because Nicholoulias had served a single day in jail at the time of his arrest — and because his formal sentencing landed on a Friday — Suffolk’s “good behavior” credit rules kicked in, effectively wiping out the remainder of his already-minimal jail term. He was immediately released on probation.

In total, the man who terrorized an entire community served one day for a multi-month hate campaign.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)