Evanston Police Department Cmdr. Jay Parrott on Tuesday confirmed the anti-immigration vandal arrested early Monday morning is most likely responsible for at least six more instances of similar graffiti on the city’s north side.
However, due to quick clean-up efforts and other circumstantial factors, Evanston resident Daniel Schwartz, 21, was only charged with six counts of criminal defacement of property after being caught in the act around 2 a.m. Monday, Parrott said.
The misdemeanor charges, first announced in an EPD news release Monday, were based off admissions Schwartz made to arresting officers, Parrott added.
“There was probably a dozen times this occurred since back in July,” Parrott said, later adding each incident involved “similar messages with the same type of spray paint used.”
On Tuesday, Parrott further clarified Schwartz’s motives, saying Schwartz had “no intent to scare people” and was “strictly sending a political message.”
In a phone interview Monday afternoon, Schwartz said his vandalism was “not about hate” but about growing concerns for the country’s unemployment crisis.
“It was just a way for him to get his political message out,” Parrott said of Schwartz’s apparent inspiration.
In an email sent Tuesday afternoon, Schwartz told The Daily the statement he was attempting to spray paint early Monday morning before being arrested: “25 million Americans are unemployed so why is the government bringing in over a million mostly third world immigrants this year? For what jobs? How does this not hurt the currently underemployed?”
Schwartz’s court date is scheduled for Dec. 21 in Skokie.
