Marin County District Attorney Lori Frugoli will not press charges against a man who was filmed placing swastika stickers throughout Fairfax in late November, according to a statement published Wednesday.
On Nov. 24, a Fairfax resident filmed and reported the incident to the Fairfax Police Department. The police, in collaboration with the District Attorney’s Office, interviewed the suspect and contacted other jurisdictions before deciding that there was “insufficient evidence” to make any criminal charges against the suspect stick.
The white stickers featured a black swastika and the phase “we are everywhere.” The Nov. 24 incident was one of a series of highly-publicized racist and anti-Semitic incidents which occurred in Marin County in the months after this summer’s nationwide racial justice protests.
“In order to file criminal charges, our office is ethically obligated to ensure that the conduct meets the elements of a criminal offense, and there was insufficient evidence of that,” Frugoli said in a statement Wednesday.
“We recognize the symbolism of a swastika accompanied by the message ‘We are everywhere’ evokes a range of emotions in our community ranging from anger, fear and every emotion in between. Such conduct harms not only our Jewish community, but our entire community,” Frugoli continued.
“In the past few months, we have seen hateful, harmful and intimidating behavior that also harms our community. Such conduct does not represent Fairfax, or any other city where this conduct occurred. In this case, documentation of the acts did serve our community as it shed light on the conduct and let the individual know that such behavior does not represent our county. On a larger scale, this incident brings home the reality of the harmfulness such behavior engenders. It also provided law enforcement with the opportunity to fully investigate the incident and the individual,” Frugoli continued.
Frugoli and her staff are planning to host a “collaborative forum” to provide Marin residents an opportunity “to learn what can be done locally to stop hate crimes and hateful conduct.” The event has yet to be scheduled. More information will be made available at the District Attorney’s website.
