LOS ANGELES (JTA) — Los Angeles prosecutors have filed hate crimes charges against a local man for scrawling anti-Semitic graffiti outside a Jewish-owned plumbing business.
Amos Hason, a 49-year old man who has previously claimed to be Jewish, has been charged with six misdemeanor counts of vandalism and hate crimes, and faces up to three years in prison, according to a report by the Los Angeles Times.
According to the prosecutors, surveillance videos show Hason painting swastikas and other anti-Semitic slurs on the fence and trash bin behind the business on two separate occasions. One one occasion, he allegedly wrote: “Adolf was right. Kill Jews!”, followed by a swastika.
Hason was convicted of possession of an improvised firearm in 2013, possession of a deadly weapon with intent to assault another in 2008 and drug possession in 2004.
“He has criminal history and was arrested with a weapon,” said City Attorney Mike Feuer, according to KABC news. “He allegedly has been involved in a hate crime; that’s a very dangerous combination.”
In a previous federal lawsuit filed by Hason, he claimed that he was Jewish and accused the Los Angeles police of violating his civil rights, according to the Times report. His suit was dismissed.
Hason is currently being held in lieu of $68,000 bail. In addition to prison time, he faces up to $15,000 in fines. He was scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.
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