Man Sentenced to Prison in Nazi Graffiti Case

A 20-year-old man who spray-painted Nazi swastikas and other white supremacist symbols on an Egyptian immigrant’s house in Granada Hills was sentenced Monday to 10 months in federal prison.

Joshua Hass also was ordered to undergo counseling at an affiliate of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and take part in a National Conference of Community and Justice program aimed at reforming hate-crime perpetrators.

U.S. District Judge A. Howard Matz told Hass that his crime, while a misdemeanor, was vile and contemptible.

But in requiring the defendant to undergo therapy and participate in a tolerance program after his prison term, Matz said he wanted to give Hass a chance to change.

Matz also ordered Hass to pay $1,300 restitution to his victim and to perform 100 hours of public service, a portion of which is to benefit Arab American and Jewish communities.

Hass pleaded guilty earlier this year to the January 1998 attack. Six large swastikas, a pair of lightning bolts, initials of a skinhead gang and the words white power covered the entire front of the one-story house. He was charged with violating the owner’s federally protected housing rights.