Teens with sledgehammer charged with painting swastikas on NJ playground

LAKEWOOD - Two teenagers have been charged with spraypainting swastikas and other anti-Semitic graffiti on a Lakewood playground in August.

Police spokesman Lt. Gregory Staffordsmith said the 13 and 14 year-olds were arrested on Monday when police found a group of six teens desecrating another building on Second Street and breaking windows with a sledgehammer.

They were charged with bias intimidation and criminal mischief, Staffordsmith said. The four other teens were also arrested and charged with criminal mischief.

Swastikas and a misspelled salute to Hitler were spray-painted in black on a jungle gym at the Yeshiva Ketana on Aug. 25, according to Staffordsmith. Some of the building's windows also were broken.

Howell police spokesman Det. Sgt. Christian Antunez did not know if there was a connection to similar graffiti discovered in Echo Lake Park in Howell on August 29.

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