By Kennedy Zak and
Gavin J. Quinton
Glendale News-Press and Burbank Leader
A 32-year-old man who was charged this week with tagging multiple locations in Glendale and a Burbank synagogue with antisemitic graffiti was arrested Thursday.
Klinton Allister Dion was arrested in San Bernardino County, according to the Glendale Police Department. Dion was arrested shortly after 9 a.m., according to jail records. He is being held in lieu of $65,000 bail, and was tentatively scheduled to appear in court Friday in Burbank.
District Attorney George Gascón on Tuesday announced that Dion had been charged with a dozen felony counts, including two counts of vandalism of religious property involving Temple Emanu El and Emmanuel Church in Burbank.
The charges against Dion also include a hate crime allegation, along with an allegation that he has a 2011 assault conviction. Dion faces up to 20 years in prison if convicted as charged, Gascón said.
The district attorney insisted that his office “will continue to aggressively prosecute” such hate crime cases.
The antisemitic displays in Glendale took place between Nov. 25 and Nov. 28 in multiple locations in the 5100 and 6200 blocks of San Fernando Road, on the side of the bridge at Geneva Street and Glenoaks Avenue, on a newspaper stand near Howard Street and Glenoaks Avenue and two utility boxes — one near Geneva Street and Monterey Road and the other near Central Avenue and Pioneer Drive.
Police said the graffiti consisted of swastikas, an iron cross and the “SS” Nazi symbol.
According to a recent Los Angeles County data report, religious crimes spiked 41% from 2021 to 2022 and made up 16% of all hate crimes with 83% of all religious hate crimes being anti-Jewish.
Simon Hammel, a board member at Temple Sinai Glendale, spoke to the impact these crimes have on communities in an interview with the News-Press in November.
“The symbols we saw were ones that were used throughout history and have long been associated with violence against Jewish people,” Hammel said. “Swastikas and SS lightning bolts are used as a form of intimidation, and more than that, it stands for something very specific, which is to wish harm on us.
“When people see those things, they get upset because we don’t want to see harm come to our children or for them to be in a society where people hate them for their identity,” Hammel said.
— City News Service contributed to this report.
First published in the December 16 print issue of the Glendale News-Press and Burbank Leader.
