Earlier this year, a social media account started documenting the mysterious and alarming appearance of spray-painted swastikas around downtown Ventura.
But the account was not run by a good Samaritan trying to draw attention to a hate crime, authorities later determined. It was instead the handiwork of a convicted rapist who was committing the vandalism himself, then posting photos online in an effort to sow fear, according to the Ventura Police Department and the county district attorney’s office.
John Williams, 32, of Ventura admitted this week that he had vandalized public and private property with swastikas. Williams was convicted of forcible rape in 2019 and was on parole at the time of the crimes, according to court records.
He was arrested on March 30 and initially pleaded not guilty, but withdrew that plea Tuesday as part of a plea bargain, prosecutors said.
He has now pleaded guilty to three felony counts of vandalism for damage exceeding $400, three felony hate crime counts, two misdemeanor counts of vandalism and one misdemeanor count of possession of a stun gun by a convicted felon, prosecutors said. He remains in custody in lieu of $250,000 bail and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 17.
“Symbols of hate like the swastika are not simply relics of history, they remain dangerous reminders of violence and intolerance,” Senior Deputy Dist. Atty. Hayley Moyer said in a statement. “Our community will not tolerate acts that glorify Nazism or spread fear, and we will hold offenders accountable.”
Williams also admitted to special allegations of committing the crimes while on parole and having a prior strike conviction, prosecutors said. He has a history of parole violations and was booked into Ventura County Jail on a parole hold 10 days before his recent vandalism arrest, according to the county’s inmate log.
Ventura police began investigating the hate crimes on March 30 after receiving a call from a downtown business that someone had spray-painted a swastika and “VC Pride” on a wall of its property, prosecutors said. The same day, police received four additional reports of swastika graffiti found on public and private properties in Ventura.
Officers quickly identified Williams as their suspect using surveillance video at two of the vandalized locations. Officers determined he had been documenting graffiti and posting images on social media “in an effort to give the appearance that other people were committing hate crimes and spreading fear,” according to the Ventura Police Department.
Antisemitic incidents have soared in the U.S. after the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023.
The Anti-Defamation League reported 9,354 antisemitic incidents across the United States in 2024 — a 344% increase over the last five years and the highest number since the organization started tracking incidents in 1979.
L.A. County saw a 91% increase in anti-Jewish hate crimes from 2022 to 2023, the latest year for which data are available.
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