Man arrested in graffiti case

PALO ALTO — A fingerprint was the clue authorities needed to make an arrest in the spraying of gold anti-Semitic graffiti on two student residences at Stanford University earlier this year, according to court records.

The print was found on an empty can of gold spray paint near La Casa Italiana, one of the vandalized houses, Stanford Department of Public Safety Officer Mike Kim wrote in a report. A check of an FBI database revealed that it belonged to Lucas Joseph Ninow, 19, of Mountain View.

Last week, Ninow was arrested and charged with a hate crime, as well as two counts of felony vandalism.

Ninow was at the Palo Alto courthouse for a plea hearing Tuesday, but it was rescheduled for July 29 at the request of his public defender, Gary Goodman.

Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge Aaron Persky also lowered Ninow’s bail from $40,000 to $15,000, to reflect the fact that he had been charged with a misdemeanor hate crime, not a felony as listed in the original criminal complaint, according to prosecutor Anne Seery.

Seery declined to discuss the case because it was still being investigated.

Gold spray painted swastikas, pentagrams and obscenities were discovered at Sigma Alpha Epsilon, a fraternity at 1047 Campus Drive, on April 26. A pentagram was also found at La Casa Italiana, a residence dedicated to the study and celebration of Italian culture and language, at 562 Mayfield Ave.

While the anti-Semitic graffiti was upsetting to Jewish residents of the fraternity, they “did not feel personally attacked,” Stanford Department of Public Safety Officer Drew Vasquez wrote in a report.

The motive remains unclear. Ninow is not a student at Stanford.