Northridge Mom Pleads Guilty To Driving Daughter To Draw Maple Syrup Swastikas
LOS ANGELES (CBS) — A Northridge mother pleaded guilty Wednesday to driving her daughter and two other girls to homes where they smeared feces, scrawled swastikas and wrote the word "Jew" on a sidewalk.
Catharine Whelpley, 43, entered her plea to one misdemeanor count of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. She was ordered to complete a year of parenting classes and 80 hours of community service at Jewish Family Services, according to City Attorney Carmen A. Trutanich.
According to prosecutors, Whelpley drove her 14-year-old daughter and friends – ages 13 and 14 – to a former friend's home, where they threw toilet paper into the trees and on the property, smeared human feces on the porch and poured maple syrup on the homeowner's car.
Whelpley then took the teens to buy more toilet paper, then drove them to a second victim's home, where they again toilet papered the house, smeared human feces on the porch and poured maple syrup on the homeowner's car. At the second home, reportedly owned by the son of a Holocaust survivor, Whelpley's daughter also wrote the word "Jew" and drew swastikas in maple syrup, prosecutors said.
Whelpley waited in the car and drove the three back to her house, according to the City Attorney's Office.
The girls were not charged, but were disciplined at school.
If Whelpley successfully completes the parenting classes and community service within the year, the case will be reduced to an infraction. Whelpley also has attended the Museum of Tolerance program with her daughter and written letters of apology to the victims, the city attorney said.
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