‘I had a lot of hate in my heart’: Man, 25, admits spray-painting swastikas near a Florida college on Christmas because he was abused for his German heritage by his Jewish adoptive parents
- Michael Peter Ill, 25, was captured on surveillance video spray painting swastikas
- He also spray painted anti-Semitic slurs around UCF campus on Christmas day
- Ill told police he had planned to turn himself in and that he did the vandalism out of anger, claiming he was abused as a child for his German decent
Michael Peter Ill, 25, admitted to spray painting swastikas around the University of Central Florida campus
A man who admitted to spray painting swastikas around his Florida neighborhood on Christmas day told authorities he was ‘mistreated his whole life’ over his German heritage by his Jewish adoptive parents and others.
Michael Peter Ill, 25, was caught on surveillance cameras leaving a trail of half a dozen swastikas and anti-Semitic slurs around the University of Central Florida campus, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
Ill’s scrawlings included the words ‘F*** the Jews’ and a German slogan that means ‘Germany forever.’
Police were able to locate Ill after they observed him on one surveillance video walking from the area of the vandalism and into his apartment at The Marquee complex.
He told police that his upbringing in Connecticut was traumatic.
Ill (pictured in court) told authorities that he was angry over his alleged abuse as a child of German decent by his Russian Jewish adoptive parents
Ill said he was adopted by a couple of Russian Jewish descent and that his upbringing was painful as he claimed they abused him because of his German heritage, and that he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder as a result.
He also told deputies he was ‘mistreated his whole life’ in his hometown and in large part at the ‘rich Jewish school’ he attended.
Additionally, he blamed his anger on a man he claims raped his ex-girlfriend. He said that the alleged rapist was Jewish and that he had placed the graffiti in places where he would see it.
‘Yes, I had a lot of anger,’ Ill said, according to his arrest affidavit. ‘Yes, I had a lot of hate in my heart that night.’
He also told deputies that he doesn’t hate Jewish people, and was acting on ‘impulse and weakness,’ during the Christmas day incident and said he had intended to turn himself in.
He is now in the Orange County Jail with bail set at $100,000 on a felony criminal mischief charge.
Ill’s admitted to spray painting swastikas (pictured) around his neighborhood on Christmas
A graduate from UCF saw the hateful scrawlings and took action to cover them up so people wouldn’t see it on Christmas day
UCF graduate Mary Peabody discovered the graffiti on Christmas morning and decided to cover up the hateful messages with wrapping paper and messages of love written over it.
Chuck Peabody, and his daughter Mary Peabody, said they wanted to stop neighbors from waking up and seeing a hateful message on Christmas morning.
So the duo took to the streets and began ‘a lengthy project of covering them up with Christmas wrapping paper and a counter message,’ Chuck Peabody said.