Police charged the apparent leader of a group of three suspects, Timothy Arnold, with at least three charges of graffiti following his arrest for a series of anti-Semitic symbols found on and off campus.
According to a Madison Police Department incident report:
Detectives believe 21-year-old Arnold may have been personally behind 10-15 of the spray paint instances in recent weeks. The incidents featured depictions of the Wolfsangel, an early Nazi symbol which, in modern times, has been adopted by white supremacy groups.
Police added the hate crime enhancers to two of the graffiti charges, due to graffiti outside of the Jewish Experience of Madison and Kappa Alpha Sorority on Langdon Street.
Hate crime enhancers are added to crimes that are committed with the intent to target a specific group of people.
Community leaders respond to new instances of anti-Semitic graffiti
MPD spokesperson Joel DeSpain said the investigation is ongoing and there may be further charges filed. He said the detective assigned to the case is still investigating each instance of graffiti. The two other suspects arrested in connection to the graffiti are described by DeSpain as Arnold’s followers and are believed to be responsible for only a few of the instances.
DeSpain said that none of the suspects are University of Wisconsin students.
