Vandals draw swastikas in Agoura Hills





Deputies say vandals etched swastikas and other hate insignia into the paint of at least two vehicles last week in Agoura Hills.

The Lost Hills Sheriff’s Department has begun an investigation to catch the criminals, according to Sgt. Tim Youngern of the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station.

Both incidents occurred Jan. 25 in the 29000 block of Medea Lane, officials said.

Hate crimes don’t occur often in the area, but when they do the Sheriff’s Department takes them seriously, Youngern said.

“We do get our share of (hate crimes), but it’s abnormal,” he said. “Every now and then we get these and we investigate them to a hilt because we want to know who’s doing it.”

According to Youngern, a hate crime is sometimes followed by another, more serious crime.

“We want to make sure that it’s not,” he said. “So, whenever one of these hate crimes, or even alleged hate crimes comes up, we put a lot of resources on it to find out who could be responsible.”

Youngern said Lost Hills detectives have obtained leads on the recent vandalisms. He suspects the crimes weren’t targeted against the owners of the vehicles, but rather served as an expression of general hate.

“We’ve had hate graffiti— like swastikas—placed on property by Jewish kids,” Youngern said. “You just don’t know who and why and what causes them to do these things, but these kinds of things happen now and then.”

If you have any information about similar incidents in the area, call Det. J.T. Manwell, head of the Sheriff’s Department Juvenile Intervention Team at Lost Hills, at (818) 878-1808.

Manwell is leading the recent vandalism investigation, according to Youngern.

“We’ve been successful in our investigations on similar incidents,” Youngern said. He pointed out that hate vandalism often extends beyond just one or two incidents.

Mark O’Donnell of the East Valley Sheriff’s Station said there have been no reports of similar crimes in Oak Park or other East Ventura County areas.


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