AUGUSTA (AP) – The state has filed a civil complaint against two teenage girls from Winthrop who allegedly spray-painted swastikas on street signs to harass and threaten a Jewish girl and her boyfriend.
The complaint said Mia Calcagni, 16, and Shannon Thayer-Adams, 18, painted the swastikas last November as an act of anti-Semitism against the female student at Winthrop High School.
Assistant Attorney General Leanne Robbin said Winthrop police investigated the incident and turned the results over to the attorney general’s office, which handles civil rights violations.
The complaint seeks an injunction barring Calcagni and Thayer-Adams from assaulting or harassing the victim or her family and from trespassing on their property, and from assaulting or threatening anyone because of their race or religion.
It also asks the judge to rule that the two violated the Maine Civil Rights Act and impose a civil penalty of $5,000 for each violation.
A sport utility vehicle that was also carrying five other high school students dropped the two girls off near the victim’s home, according to the complaint.
Calcagni and Thayer-Adams “stated they intended to paint a swastika on the victim’s horse,” the complaint added. It said they never carried out that plan.
Thayer-Adams graduated last June from Winthrop High School. Calcagni is currently home-schooled, Robbin said.
A misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief was filed in Augusta District Court against Thayer-Adams, and a March 11 bench trial in that case was postponed. “As far as we know, it has no anti-Semitism involved,” her attorney in that case, Stephen Bourget, said Thursday.
District Attorney Evert Fowle said he could not comment on whether a misdemeanor charge was filed against Calcagni because she is a juvenile.
Calcagni’s lawyer, Peter Bickerman, said he plans to deny the charge in the civil rights case.
“There’s no doubt someone spray-painted swastikas and that’s a bad thing,” he said. “We believe they have the wrong people.”
Robbin said no one has admitted doing the painting.
AP-ES-04-16-04 0218EDT
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