CHICAGO — A Rogers Park woman faces hate crime charges after witnesses told police she defaced buildings in the neighborhood this week, Chicago police said. Mariana Lynch, 30, is scheduled to appear for a detention hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse on Saturday afternoon.
In a brief press release, CPD said officers arrested Lynch in the 7300 block of North Sheridan shortly before 1 p.m. Thursday. She was identified as the person who “defaced multiple businesses, an apartment building, and park property” within an hour of her arrest, the press release said.
The police did not provide any details about the defacement.
However, police were dispatched to the area after witnesses saw a woman using a marker to draw a swastika and other figures on windows and buildings, according to CPD radio traffic.
An officer said the graffiti included a website address and the hammer and sickle symbol commonly associated with communism.
Lynch is charged with three counts of hate crime, hate crime at a school, and two counts of criminal damage to government property, which are all felonies. She is also charged with four counts of misdemeanor criminal defacement.
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