Swan Lake – Teenagers Charged With Hate Crimes In Vandalizing Camp

Swan Lake – Police say teenagers scrawled hateful messages with spray paint inside the main building of an Orthodox Jewish bungalow colony on Mount Hope Road. On walls in the front room at Camp Kasho, overlooking boxes of matzo meal crushed on the floor and a sticker advising people to keep their children off the Internet, was the name “Hitler” in letters a foot high. The vandals also spray-painted their names, nicknames and initials and splashed cans of paint around the room. Police lodged hate crime charges against three teenagers from neighboring Abbott House, a home for neglected, abused, developmentally disabled or otherwise homeless kids.

Sullivan County Sheriff Michael Schiff said a camp employee came to the site to handle the delivery of trusses for a new building. The man saw the teenagers flee into the woods, discovered the break-in and vandalism and called 911.