Remember the profane and anti-Muslim graffiti discovered at the Sikh temple in Buena Park last month?
The arrestee, Brodie Durazo, 21, of Buena Park, has been charged with one felony count of vandalism of a religious property and two misdemeanor counts each of vandalism under $400, according to the Orange County District Attorney’s office.
You’ll notice the lack of hate crime counts in what was widely publicized as a hate crime shortly after the horrific Dec. 2 shootings in San Bernardino by radical Muslim terrorists.
”The Gurdwara [Singh Sabha] was vandalized during Sunday early hours, and a hateful graffiti was seen on the walls of the Gurdwara and also a truck parked in the parking lot. The graffiti included the phrase, “F@#k ISIS,” and the words “Islam” and other reference of gangs,” the Washington-based Sikh Council on Religion and Education reported in a statement after the Dec. 6 incident.
But here’s how the OCDA now puts it in a statement released Monday:
“On the evening of Dec. 6, 2015, Durazo is accused of spray-painting graffiti throughout a trailer park where he resides on Orangethorpe Avenue in Buena Park. He is accused of then going onto the property of the Gurdwara Singh Sabha Temple spray-painting graffiti on a dividing wall between the trailer park and the temple. He is also accused of spray-painting graffiti on a tractor trailer parked in the parking lot of the temple.”
The absence of hate rhetoric may have to do with Durazo having sincerely apologized to the Sikh temple congregation on Dec. 13—and the local Sikhs having sincerely forgiven him.
“I cannot imagine the amount of stress or tension that I brought upon your temple, especially with what is going on in this world at this time,” Durazo said that day. “I do offer my sincere apologies, and, with all being said, I hope you can come to a realization that I did not mean for the gurdwara to feel targeted. I have lived alongside this temple for many years of my life and have never once seen you as anything but a peaceful people. I just hope that you will see by my presence that all I want is for peace as well.”
Not sure if Durazo also apologized to local Muslims. And he is still in hot water. He faces a maximum sentence of three years in state prison if he is convicted, prosecutors says.
He is out of custody on $20,000 bail heading into his scheduled arraignment Feb. 8 in Fullerton.
