By Bill Lindelof
blindelof@sacbee.com
The Anti-Defamation League has offered a $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person who defaced a billboard image of Sacramento Kings player Omri Casspi with a swastika.
The Sacramento Police Department is investigating as a possible hate crime graffiti painted on a mural of Kings players in the midtown area.
Last week a report was received by Sacramento police that a swastika had been painted on a plywood mural at 16th and R streets. The backward swastika was painted on the forehead of Casspi, who is from Israel.
"The defacement of Omri Casspi's likeness with a swastika -- an ugly symbol of hate -- is disturbing and an affront to the Jewish community and the Sacramento community at large," said Dan Sandman, director of the ADL's Central Pacific region.
Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call Crime Alert at (916) 443-4357.
"We applaud the Sacramento Kings for condemning this anti-Semitic act, and we hope they will continue to lend their voices to the fight against anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry," Sandman said in a statement released Tuesday.
Call The Bee's Bill Lindelof, (916) 321-1079.
KCRA: Kings mural vandal called 'village idiot'
Previous coverage:
Casspi 'hurt' by defaced mural - Sept. 10, 2010
Swastika painted on Kings mural in Sacramento - Sept. 9, 2010









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