A woman has been charged with vandalism and graffiti after allegedly posting Nazi flyers near Fullerton College and a high school in Newport Beach, officials announced Monday.
Grace Elisabeth Ziesmer, 22, Fullerton, faces one misdemeanor count of vandalism under $400 and two misdemeanor counts of graffiti.
The charges stem from a March 4 incident when Ziesmer allegedly posted Nazi propaganda posters on city light poles near Fullerton College. She is also accused of posting the posters, which included swastikas, SS mottos and other Neo-Nazi statements, at Newport Harbor High School on March 11, authorities said.
The posters were posted at the high school about a week after a photo at a Costa Mesa house party showed students posing in a Nazi salute gathered around a swastika formed by red cups. The post went viral and drew criticism from the community. Students from Newport Harbor attended the party.
The Orange County District Attorney’s Office called posting Nazi propaganda a “hate incident.”
“I am not going to tolerate hate in Orange County,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement.
Ziesmer, however, was not charged with a hate crime enhancement because of lack of evidence “that her conduct was directed at a particular victim for being Jewish,” the DA”s office said. “It could not be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant’s conduct was directed at the schools because of their connection with the Jewish people or the Jewish religion, based on the evidence and interviews conducted in the case.”
Ziesmer is scheduled to appear in court on June 6. If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of one year and six months in jail.