Swastikas (illustration)
Swastikas (illustration)Gershon Elinson/Flash 90

A man has been charged in a federal court in the United States with defacing one of Michigan's oldest synagogues with a swastika in 2019, The Associated Press reported.

A swastika was sprayed on the outside of Temple Jacob in Hancock in the Upper Peninsula.

Nathan Weeden, 23, of Houghton was indicted on charges of conspiring against rights and damaging religious property, according to the report.

He was released on bond Thursday following his arrest in Saline in southeastern Michigan. A not-guilty plea was entered.

It was not clear why there was a nearly four-year gap between the vandalism and the indictment. Totten spokeswoman Tiffany Brown said she couldn't comment on charging decisions.

In 2021, a New Jersey man, Richard Tobin, was sentenced to a year in prison for conspiring to direct others to deface Temple Jacob as well as a synagogue in Racine, Wisconsin.

Tobin admitted he was a member of a white supremacist group.

(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)