Police Seek Public’s Help in Cross-Burning Case

Police in Westminster say they are having difficulty gathering information about who burned a cross on the lawn of a local black family Thursday because residents are afraid of retaliation by white supremacist youth gangs.

“Unfortunately, when we have groups like that or any other kind of gang, people get intimidated . . . and that makes it very difficult to investigate,” Sgt. Harry Hoover said. “We definitely need some assistance from some of the good folks that live out there. They don’t need to gives us their names, just the information.”

Police suspect the cross-burning at the home of Ted and Lillie Heisser was the work of young “Skinheads,” some of whom shave their heads and dress in neo-Nazi regalia. In recent weeks, a rash of white supremacist graffiti has been sprayed in the Indian Village neighborhood. Also, groups of Skinheads have marched through the streets, yelling “white power” and other racist slogans.

Hoover said police still do not have enough evidence to bring anyone in for questioning.

“We don’t have enough probable cause to haul them in, or we’d do it,” Hoover said, adding that the parents of some of those he would like to question have refused to cooperate with police. “The group that we would like to get our hands on have gone underground on us,” he said.

Since the cross-burning, Hoover said, other black, white, Latino and Asian families living in Indian Village have received threatening phone calls and taunts from Skinheads driving past their houses. Hoover said the Skinheads apparently suspected them of talking to police.

But he predicted that police soon will have suspects.

“I think you’ll see some movement on that situation” by this week, he said.

Hoover said police have used lasers and Superglue to lift fingerprints from the uncharred portions of the cross.

Anyone with information about the cross-burning is asked to call Westminster detectives at (714) 898-3311, Ext. 349.