Homeless Man Linked To Swastika Graffiti On Miami Beach
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MIAMI BEACH (CBSMiami) - A man accused of scrawling hateful messages on signs and property all around Miami Beach faced a judge Thursday morning.
"Mr. Kenna was going around the areas between 30th and 63rd street in Miami Beach and spray painting swastika's with the word death underneath swastika's," said the prosecutor.
Police say it had been going on since early February, a swastika was found on a sign at 53rd and Collins Avenue, there was more on a Citi Bike Kiosk at 40th and Chase. The messages, said prosecutors, were put in public places but at least one was placed on someone's home.
The graffiti contained words like "kill the Jews" and "death to Jews" alongside images of a devil.
Police say they launched a special investigation and put the area under surveillance, detectives say they caught Sean Kenna in the act and he confessed.
"It doesn't hurt me personally, it scares me for the country, it scares me for the United States, it scares me for the world to see nationalism and hate," said Jacob Solomon.
Solomon is President and CEO of the Greater Miami Jewish Federation. He said they were alerted by investigators about the anti-Semitic graffiti early on and took it very seriously.
"To ignore these kinds of things, you do it at your own peril. There are haters out there, some of them just scrawl things on the wall against the Jews, some of them pick up a gun and take action," he said
Kenna, whose attorney described him as homeless, had nothing to say in court.
Prosecutors argued that he terrorized the community with the messages placed in predominately Jewish neighborhoods and on a Jewish family's home. They asked the judge to send him a message.
"Just the pure nature of this, I don't know what we can do to make sure he doesn't do it again other than setting bond that's gonna be high enough for him to understand the severity of his crimes," said the prosecutor.
Kenna was charged with 7 felony counts of criminal mischief, his bond was set at $135,000 dollars and he was ordered to stay away from the area.