BRUNSWICK, Maine — Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey announced Tuesday he has filed a civil rights complaint against two Harpswell residents alleging they spray-painted racist and antisemitic messages in multiple Cumberland County towns at the beginning of January.
According to a news release from the AG's office, the civil rights complaint was filed in superior court in Portland against 49-year-old William Deary and 18-year-old Hayden Deary, both of Harpswell. Both men are accused of vandalizing road signs and roadways in Harpswell, Brunswick, Bath, and Topsham with "antisemitic and racist phrases and symbols."
The men allegedly spray-painted antisemitic phrases at an intersection in Harpswell and on a Route 1 overpass in Bath. The complaint also claims the Dearys spray-painted signs with antisemitic imagery, including swastica symbols, and white supremacist messages in Brunswick and Topsham.
The AG's office said an armed police officer was posted at a Bath synagogue during Hebrew School due to safety concerns over the incidents.
"In addition, the Dearys vandalized a road sign with a racial epithet a short distance from the Cook’s Corner area in Brunswick, where asylum seekers are being housed," the release stated.
The complaint seeks to prohibit both men from "vandalizing public or private property with the intent to broadcast racist or antisemitic messages," according to the release.
In the complaint, the men reportedly admitted to racial and religious motivations behind the alleged incidents of vandalism, mentioning issues with immigration and COVID-19 vaccination. Hayden Deary was mentioned to be affiliated with the Nationalist Social Club, which is notably a neo-Nazi group.
"These words and symbols, defacing public property, are clearly designed to make people in our community feel unwelcome and unsafe," Frey said in the release. "This behavior by father and son Deary is shocking and reprehensible. My Office will use the statutory authority provided to confront their bias-based threats."
Any violation of Maine's Civil Rights Act may be punishable by up to 364 days in jail and a $2,000 fine, the release stated.
The Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office, the Bath Police Department, and the Brunswick Police Department assisted in the investigation.
