Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Drunk New Jersey Teens Spray-Painted Swastikas All Over Town

Two drunk New Jersey teens spray-painted their town with swastikas – but they won’t be charged with a “bias crime,” NJ.com reported.

A civilian called 911 on the morning of August 9th to report people drinking and spray-painting near the Hensyn Village apartment complex in Mount Olive, New Jersey, NJ.com reported. A 16 year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl near the complex were subsequently arrested for underage possession and consumption of alcohol and criminal mischief, according to a police report.

A police officer recounted seeing empty beer cans and a bottle of vodka in a nearby parking lot and found swastikas on cars, buildings, flags and signs around the complex.

But police aren’t considering “bias crime” charges.

“Although some of the spray paint depicted swastikas and derogatory words, there is no indication that a specific group or individual was a target,” they said in a statement. “The investigation determined that the vandalism did not meet the Attorney General’s guidelines for a bias crime.”

A third individual, a 20 year-old woman, was also found intoxicated near Hensyn Village. She was arrested for underage possession and consumption of alcohol.

Just last month, worshippers at a New Jersey synagogue were attacked leaving services with water guns, and earlier this summer swastikas were discovered at a New Jersey school.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.