Mom allegedly drove teens to vandalism

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LOS ANGELES, June 13 (UPI) -- A Southern California woman has been charged with chauffeuring her daughter and two teenage friends to homes where they committed anti-Semitic vandalism.

Their actions at one property included using maple syrup to write the word "Jew" and to draw swastikas, the Los Angeles Daily News reported.

Police said Catherine Whelpley, 44, of Northridge even drove the girls to a store to buy more toilet paper after their first attack. The girls allegedly hung the toilet paper on trees and plastered a car at one house with human excrement.

The vandalism April 3 was publicized by Jon Lovitz, the comedian, actor, singer and "Saturday Night Live" alumnus.

"Swastikas in [excrement] left on my friend's front porch were done by three 14-year-old girls, driven to the house by one of the girl's mother," Lovitz told followers on Twitter. "My friend's parents are Holocaust survivors."

The vandalism targets were former friends of the teenagers, police said.

Whelpley faces three counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor and vandalism charges, Los Angeles City Attorney Carmen Trutanich said. Trutanich said the actions of the teens and Whelpley are "unacceptable" but not legally a hate crime because the swastikas were done in a substance that could be quickly washed off.