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Swastika Hate-Crime Vandal Must Enroll In Anti-White Supremacy Rehab

By Erica Demarest | August 17, 2017 3:42pm
 Stuart Wright, 32, pleaded guilty to a hate crime after defacing a Loop synagogue with swastikas in February.
Stuart Wright, 32, pleaded guilty to a hate crime after defacing a Loop synagogue with swastikas in February.
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Chicago Police Department

COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — The man who defaced a Downtown synagogue with swastika stickers in February has been sentenced to mental health treatment and 200 hours of community service.

Stuart Wright, 32, will also be required to enroll in a one-year rehabilitation program at Life After Hate, a Near West Side nonprofit devoted to combating violent extreme-right movements. Wright must pay the organization $3,500, court records show.

That's in addition to the $4,500 Cook County Judge Vincent Gaughan ordered Wright to pay the Chicago Loop Synagogue at 16 S. Clark St.

Wright earlier this month pleaded guilty to a hate crime after smashing a window at the Downtown synagogue on Feb. 4 before defacing the building's front door with swastika stickers. Window damage at the time was estimated at $4,000.

RELATED: Synagogue Hate Crime Suspect Has Swastika Tattoo, Racist Literature: Court

According to court records, Gaughan sentenced Wright to 30 months probation. He is required to undergo a mental health evaluation and seek any recommended treatment. Wright is not allowed near the synagogue.

Gaughan also required Wright to serve two days in Cook County Jail. Wright was immediately credited with serving two days earlier this year before posting $15,000, or 10 percent of his $150,000 bond. He will serve no additional time.

In an interview with the Sun-Times, defense attorney Michael Byrne said Wright has been diagnosed with schizophrenia.

“This is not a hate-crime issue. This is someone who is mentally ill,” Byrne said.

Police arrested Wright earlier this year near his Pilsen home in the 2000 block of South Loomis Street after a tipster recognized him in the synagogue's surveillance footage.

The tipster described Wright as a white supremacist with a swastika tattoo on his back who often put up swastika stickers near his home, prosecutors said. Police found in Wright's apartment a pamphlet titled "How to own a n-----." Officers were able to match Wright's fingerprints to those found on the swastika stickers.

Bryne during a bond hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse, 2650 S. California Ave., in February said Wright works as a certified public accountant and has a master's degree in accounting. His family lives in suburban Oak Brook.