Suspects Released in Hate-Crime Burglary
Two reputed members of a skinhead gang were released from jail Thursday while investigators attempted to gather more evidence that they broke into a Palmdale woman’s new home and scrawled threats, swastikas and satanic symbols on the walls, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said.
Michael Todd Evans, 18, of Palmdale, and Thomas Conroy, 19, a transient, were arrested Tuesday on suspicion of burglary and vandalism after deputies said their footprints resembled those found at the crime scene, Sgt. Ron Shreves said. The men were released because detectives did not have enough evidence, he said.
The vandalism was discovered Tuesday by a contractor working in the development that Mary Termini, 66, was moving into.
Sheriff’s gang experts have determined the graffiti apparently came from a local skinhead gang, Shreves said. Investigators theorized that the house of Termini, who is white, was randomly selected by the vandals.
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