Man Gets Probation In University City Jewish Cemetery Vandalization

A man who confessed to damaging more than 100 headstones at a Jewish cemetery has been sentenced to three years’ probation.

Alzado M. Harris, 35, of St. Louis County, admitted to knocking down more than 100 gravestones at Chesed Shel Emeth Cemetery in University City, one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in the state, in February 2017.

Harris faces a suspended sentence of five years in prison if he doesn’t complete his three-year probation. Harris, who was sentenced Thursday, is also required to take an anger-management class, pay restitution of $5,000 and maintain a full-time job. Police matched DNA from Harris with a coat found at the cemetery.

Prosecutors charged Harris with a felony count of institutional vandalism. The case was not prosecuted as a hate crime. Authorities have said Harris was “drunk and mad” at a friend who dropped him off near the cemetery when he initiated the attack.

https://news.stlpublicradio.org/post/man-gets-probation-university-city-jewish-cemetery-vandalization