Mother Faces Charges In Teen Girls' Swastika Prank
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A Northridge mother faces criminal charges for allegedly helping her daughter and her daughter's friends smear human feces and scrawl swastikas and the word "Jew" at the homes of two former friends.
Catharine Whelpley, 43, was charged with three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor, two counts of vandalism, two counts of trespass and two counts of tampering with a vehicle, according to the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office. Whelpley is scheduled to be arraigned on June 28.
Whelpley is accused of driving her 14-year-old daughter and her friends, 13 and 14, to the home of a former middle school friend, where they threw toilet paper into the trees and on the property on April 3. The girls also poured maple syrup on the front porch and smeared human feces on the homeowner's vehicle.
After vandalizing the first property, Whelpley allegedly drove the girls to buy more toilet paper to vandalize the home of a second property. The girls later admitted to smearing human feces on the porch and use maple syrup to write the word "Jew" and swastikas on the front walkway.
Whelpley waited in the car for the girls, and drove them back to her residence, prosecutors said.
"The conduct alleged in this case is unacceptable in our society," City Attorney Carmen Trutanich said.
The teenagers were captured in the act of vandalism on a neighbor's surveillance camera, prosecutors said. A week after the prank, Los Angeles Unified School District officials said the girls involved were disciplined, but the district would not say whether they were transferred to another school.
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