By F. Scott Faulkner
Ventura CA –
Two 18-year-old men have been on charges of vandalism and hate speech.
Thousand Oaks resident Johann Bernhardt Patrick and
Matthew Rakowski of Simi Valley were seen in surveillance footage linking them to a hate crime.
According to Ventura County Sheriff’s Department spokesman Detective T. Behrend, VCSD
VCSD East County Investigations Property Crimes Unit received a record of “video surveillance” in mid October, which captured images of “two
suspects committing graffiti vandalism” on a local area commercial building. More than just the
usual artwork, the graffiti recorded on video “contained explicit hate speech and symbols
targeting specific protected groups on the building’s walls.
On October 15, detectives located Patrick in Thousand Oaks and arrested him. A search of
his residence yielded additional evidence connected to the vandalism. The following day,
October 16, detectives apprehended Rakowski in Simi Valley, where more evidence related to
the crime was found.
Both suspects were booked into the Ventura County Pre-Trial Detention Facility, where they
were charged with felony vandalism, violation of civil rights, and conspiracy to commit a crime.
