Man suspected of tagging swastikas on Trump’s Hollywood star arrested
Authorities have arrested a 29-year-old man suspected of spray-painting swastikas on President Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, police said.
Jose Ortega of Los Angeles was booked Sunday on suspicion of felony vandalism, said Officer Mike Lopez, a spokesman for the Los Angeles Police Department.
A witness saw Ortega tag the star late Sunday afternoon and called the police, Lopez said. Officers spotted the suspect on the 6500 block of Hollywood Boulevard and arrested him. He is being held in lieu of more than $20,000 bail, according to Los Angeles County jail records.
The graffiti has since been cleaned.
It’s not the first time Trump’s star has been targeted by vandals.
In July, a 24-year-old man allegedly took a pickax to the star and gave himself up to police. In October 2016, during the presidential campaign, another man was charged with felony vandalism after police said he bashed the star with a sledgehammer.
The star has been defaced with markers and spray paint. Some critics have scrawled anti-Trump notes and swastikas. Others have made the Hollywood spot a venue for political debate.
In September, an artist who goes by the name Plastic Jesus placed what looked like prison bars made of wood over Trump’s star, aiming to figuratively imprison the president.
City News Service contributed to this report.
alene.tchekmedyian@latimes.com
Twitter: @AleneTchek
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