It seems that an 18 year old Potomac student has been charged with plastering swastika stickers all over Potomac High School. Apparently this vandalism happened between April 15 and May 5 and were put on a resource police cruiser as well as exit doors to the building, lockers, doors and other conspicuous places.
The student, Joseph Barnes, was named since he is 18. It makes one wonder what possesses people to do something this stupid. Did he do it on a dare? Was he bored? Is he disturbed? Was it a senior prank? Or is this kid a Nazi sympathizer?
According to the News & Messenger:
On Tuesday, police arrested 18-year-old Joseph William Barnes of 2493 Fraser Court in Woodbridge in class. He is charged with five counts of destructing and defacing property, said Hernandez.
He was released on $3,500 bond and is scheduled to appear in court June 24.
Police said he was not charged with a hate crime because the vandalism was not aimed at any single “race, religion or creed.”
In August, four teens were arrested after police found sod that had been formed into a swastika in the parking lot of Sinclair Elementary School near Manassas.
In addition to the swastika, sod was also used to form “KKK” and “white power.”
There were 263 incidents of hate crimes in the commonwealth that year, according to FBI crime statistics.
Nationwide, there were 7,783 reported cases of hate crimes in 2008, according to the FBI.
Regardless of his reason, this stunt seems like a very immature thing to do. It sounds more like something an 8 year old would do, not an 18 year old who can legally vote. Now there’s a scary thought!
