Local News in Brief : Man Booked in Vandalism

A man who described himself as a “self-employed preacher” walked into the Hollywood Division police station, where he was booked as a suspect in the breaking of windows and doors at five Fairfax district synagogues last weekend, Los Angeles police said.

Louis Joel Kugler, 46, surrendered late Monday after his attorney telephoned to say that Kugler had just become aware that he was being sought, Lt. Ed Hocking said.

Congregants of the vandalized synagogues said a stocky, bearded transient had prayed with them, then made threats after being turned away for panhandling and disrupting services. Kugler was clean shaven when he surrendered, but it appeared that he “had just shaved off his beard,” Hocking said.

Kugler, who was arrested on suspicion of one felony count of vandalism of a religious building, was released on $7,500 bail and ordered to appear for arraignment Nov. 2.