(JTA) — A suburban New York teen was arrested for drawing two swastikas on the sidewalk in a heavily Jewish community.
The swastikas were discovered earlier this month two blocks apart in Cedarhurst, a town on Long Island. Children who saw the swastikas on the sidewalk on their way to school on March 7 told their parents, who called police, WCBS-TV reported.
Carlos Rivera, 17, was arrested Sunday night at his home in the neighboring town of Lawrence, which like Cedarhurst is part of the area known as the Five Towns. He was charged with two counts of aggravated harassment and was ordered to return on April 13 to court in nearby Hempstead, according to local reports.
Police said Rivera found a piece of chalk on the ground and proceeded to draw the swastikas.
“My wife’s parents were the only survivors of a very large family from the Holocaust,” a resident who lives in the house next to the sidewalk where the swastika was drawn told WCBS at the time of the incident. “Even though it was a long time ago, it’s very real to us.”
