Girls Who Admitted To Drawing Swastikas In Maple Syrup Reportedly Expelled From School
NORTHRIDGE (CBS) — Jon Lovitz may have been a comedian since he was 15, but for him, a prank involving maple syrup was no laughing matter.
Lovitz took to his Twitter account to decry swastikas and "Jew" written in maple syrup on the front walkway of a childhood friend's home in Northridge.
"UPDATE!!!! The three girls who vandalized my friends home with swastikas and dog crap, have been expelled from their school permanently," he wrote.
The Los Angeles Unified School District, however, said the girls have been disciplined but, according to school policy, will not comment on whether the girls had been transferred to another school.
The prank, which also included feces left on the family's doorstep and toilet paper on the property's trees, was discovered April 3 and reportedly directed at a 14-year-old classmate living there.
The family did not want to be identified but the girl's father spoke out Tuesday:
"The girls need to understand the severity of what they did. This wasn't a joke. That symbol (a swastika) has a very different meaning here at this house."
Police say that because the swastikas did not leave permanent damage, it did not rise to the level of a hate crime.
Swastikas are no joke, Lovitz told CBS2/KCAL9's Kristine Lazar.
"This is the worst thing you could do to terrorize a family, outside of actually harming them," Lovitz said.
Lovitz says the daughter of his friend, who is the son of Holocaust survivors, has been bullied by the three girls who admitted to the prank. The comedian and actor has tweeted a photo of the three girls, who were photographed making an obscene gesture, with this message: "The 3 girls who are bullying my friend's daughter. They want to be known. Let them be famous as Jew haters. Pls RT."
"You've got three girls against one," Lovitz said. " Well, now you've got two against three. And who else is going to join in this?"
Students at Nobel Middle School said they were shocked by the incident.
"This girl feels threatened by these other kids and how do you live like that?" said Morgan Braverman, who goes to temple with the girl who was targeted. "It's even hard to tell people that you're Jewish because you don't know what they'll think."
Police are investigating whether the mother of one of the girls may face criminal charges for driving them to the house to pull off the prank in the middle of the night.
