Man faces hate crime charges for allegedly vandalizing cars with swastikas in Ladera Heights

A man has been arrested after allegedly defacing cars with swastikas in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Ladera Heights earlier in the fall.

Robert Haymore, 37, was taken into custody on October 3 and subsequently charged with nine counts of attempted hate crimes and eight counts of vandalism of $400 or more.

According to Fox11, numerous residents of Ladera Heights awoke on the morning of September 28 to find their vehicles vandalized with the Nazi symbol. Some were simply spray painted, while others had been carved with a sharp object.

"To see this on my neighbor's car is shocking to me and shocking to them," one woman said. 

"Hate is hate," another added. "Whether you direct that particular symbol, we all know what it means to the Jewish community, but when you do that in a historically black neighborhood, it doesn't matter if you're black, white, yellow, brown, you use that symbol, that's basically saying 'you don't belong here'."

One resident explained that it was the second time his car had been tagged with the hate symbol in the past couple years, and that he hadn't been able to afford to have it removed.

Following the reports, the local Fox outlet obtained a video of a black man etching what appeared to be a swastika into the hood of a car in December 2022.

Haymore's description matched that of the suspect in the video, and authorities were able to track down and arrest him in the 1700 block of Centinela Avenue in Inglewood.

According to the LA Times, his bail has been set at $35,000 and he is expected to appear in court on October 27.

Among those who brought attention to the swastikas were the Conejo Valley Antifascists, who posted about it on October 2. After Haymore was apprehended and his description released to the public, however, the group went silent, and has not shared anything related to the case since.