Man Accused Of Painting Swastikas On IL Graves Charged With Hate Crimes

Swastikas were spray-painted on at least 150 headstones and grave markers at a cemetery in Glen Carbon on Saturday, May 26, 2018. Police said swastikas were also spray-painted on several homes nearby. (Photo by Laurie Skrivan/Post-Dispatch)
Grave markers with swastikas spray-painted on them stand in the Sunset Hill Cemetery in in Glen Carbon, Ill., on Saturday, May 26, 2018. Employees at the cemetery found swastikas on 150 to 200 headstones and police s... Grave markers with swastikas spray-painted on them stand in the Sunset Hill Cemetery in in Glen Carbon, Ill., on Saturday, May 26, 2018. Employees at the cemetery found swastikas on 150 to 200 headstones and police said swastikas were spray-painted on several homes nearby. (Laurie Skrivan/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. (AP) — A man accused of painting swastikas on more than 200 gravestones at a southern Illinois cemetery has been charged with criminal damage, institutional vandalism and hate crimes.

Aside from the alleged vandalism at the Sunset Hill Cemetery in Glen Carbon, Timothy V. McLean is accused of daubing the Nazi symbol on houses, cars and mailboxes there and in nearby Edwardsville over the Memorial Day weekend.

The Belleville News-Democrat reports that the 34-year-old McLean is also suspected of painting swastikas on area churches in April.

McLean is being held on two $100,000 bonds at the Madison County Jail in Edwardsville, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) northeast of St. Louis, Missouri.

It isn’t clear if McLean has an attorney who can comment on his behalf.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Reading this guy’s history of crimes and mental health issues, I suppose we should be glad he was using a paintbrush or spray can rather than a gun.

  2. 200 holy shit that seems like a lot!

  3. I wonder whether any of those swastikas were actually going the right direction. The left-facing ones in the picture were common in pre-WWII Buddhist iconography but didn’t appear on the Nazi flag.

  4. Today’s Nazis are too stupid to even draw the symbol correctly.

  5. Avatar for jinnj jinnj says:

    Exactly - one guy? - lot of time - lot of cans of spray paint - the typical hate filled ass-hole would probably have gotten bored after 15 or 20 … and totally fatigued out at about 30 … and most people if they pushed on would have totally lost all feeling in their spray-paint-nozzle-pushing finger by about 60 … this is dedicated hate - or true mental illness

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

7 more replies

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for ncsteve Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for livi_o Avatar for dickweed Avatar for tena Avatar for jinnj Avatar for ernestscribbler Avatar for randybastard Avatar for rickjones Avatar for euglena4056 Avatar for jakebarnes

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: