A Harpswell father and son are facing a civil rights complaint, alleging that they vandalized road signs and roadways in four southern Midcoast communities with antisemitic and racist phrases and symbols.
The graffiti appeared in January in Bath, Brunswick, Harpswell and Topsham, according to the Maine Attorney General’s office.
William Deary, 49, and his son, Hayden Deary, 18, both of Harpswell, were summonsed for Criminal Mischief, a class D Crime, in February.
They are scheduled to appear April 16 in West Bath District Court, according to the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.
“The totality of the investigation and circumstances uncovered through the investigation has led the investigating agencies to believe that these cases may rise to the level of Civil Rights Violations, both on the state level and possibly federally,” the sheriff’s office stated in a Feb. 8 press release.
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey announced March 19 that he filed a civil rights complaint in Superior Court in Portland against the Dearys.
“In particular, the Dearys spray-painted the phrase ‘Gas Jews’ on an intersection in Harpswell and on the pillars supporting an overpass at Route 1 in Bath,” a news release from Frey stated.
The graffiti included the numbers 88 and 14.
“As Defendant Hayden Deary later told the investigating officers, the number ‘88’ means ‘Heil Hitler’,” Frey’s release stated. “According to the complaint, the number ‘14’ further represents white supremacist and racist ideology.”
The graffiti caused members of a Bath synagogue to be concerned with their safety, and an armed police officer has been posted at the synagogue during Hebrew school as a result, according to the release.
The Dearys are also accused of spray painting swastikas on signs in Brunswick along Gurnet Road and on the Cook’s Corner exit sign.
“In addition, the Dearys vandalized a road sign with a racial epithet a short distance from the Cook’s Corner area in Brunswick, where asylum seekers are being housed,” the release stated.
Frey’s office said the father and son pair admitted to the crime, motivated by migration, immigrants moving to Brunswick, and accusing Jewish people of promoting the COVID-19 vaccine and sending immigrants in “to clean the white race out.”
The complaint seeks to prohibit the Dearys from vandalizing property with the intent to broadcast racist or antisemitic messages.
Violating an injunctive order under the Maine Civil Rights Act is a Class D crime, punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.
“These words and symbols, defacing public property, are clearly designed to make people in our community feel unwelcome and unsafe,” Frey said in the release. “This behavior by father and son Deary is shocking and reprehensible. My office will use the statutory authority provided to confront their bias-based threats.”