This Monday, April 8, 2019, booking photo provided by the Cleveland County Sheriff's Office shows 45-year-old Allison Christine Johnson of Norman, Ok., who is suspected of spray painting racist, anti-gay and anti-Semitic graffiti on Democratic Party offices in Norman and Oklahoma City. Court records indicate Johnson was charged in Cleveland County Monday with one felony and three misdemeanor counts of malicious injury to property and one misdemeanor count of malicious intimidation or harassment. (Cleveland County Sheriff's Office via AP)
Republished April 08, 2019 - 1:12 PM
Original Publication Date April 08, 2019 - 12:26 PM
NORMAN, Okla. - Charges were filed Monday against an Oklahoma woman suspected of spray painting racist, anti-gay and anti-Semitic graffiti on Democratic Party offices in Norman and Oklahoma City.
Allison Christine Johnson, 45, of Norman, was charged in Cleveland County with one felony and three misdemeanour counts of malicious injury to property and one misdemeanour count of malicious intimidation or harassment, according to court records. Records indicate she is being held on $25,000 bond but do not indicate if she has an attorney who could speak on her behalf.
The vandalism was discovered April 3 outside the Cleveland County Democratic Party headquarters as well as the Firehouse Art Center and McKinley Elementary School in Norman, about 17 miles (27 kilometres) south of Oklahoma City. Swastikas and derogatory remarks about various groups were sprayed in black-and-red graffiti outside the buildings.
Similar epithets were discovered March 28 outside state Democratic Party headquarters in Oklahoma City and the Oklahoma City office of the Chickasaw Nation. Formal charges have not been filed in those cases.
Johnson was arrested on April 4 after she turned herself in to the Norman Police Department. A probable cause affidavit states that police had been investigating other reports of spray-painted graffiti in recent weeks at churches, residences and other structures.
Johnson, who is white, told police her intention was to scare Jewish people and people of different races other than white, according to documents filed in the case.
She also spoke at length about her racist beliefs and her efforts to "wake people up," the report states.
News from © The Associated Press, 2019