Police In Two Neighboring Montco Communities Investigate Racist Vandalism At Cemeteries

PLYMOUTH-WHITEMARSH, PA — Police in these two neighboring Montgomery County communities are investigating incidents at two local cemeteries where hate speech was discovered spraypainted at gravesites.

Whitemarsh Township Police said the defaced headstones and tombs were discovered Thursday morning. The vandalism occurred in cemeteries and landmarks across Plymouth, Whitemarsh and even Conshohocken Borough.

"Our three municipalities have zero tolerance for bigotry, racism, anti-semitism and xenophobia," Conshohocken Mayor Yaniv Aronson said in a statement to the community. "The police departments in our municipalities are in a coordinated investigation and these cowards, when caught, will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."

Aronson said the borough remains "proud of the diversity and multiculturalism in our community, an attack on any of our neighbors is an attack on all of us."

Meanwhile, the Plymouth Township Police Department had posted to its Facebook page on Thursday that an individual, or individuals, had engaged in acts of institutional vandalism during the overnight hours of Wednesday into Thursday by desecrating gravesites at Saint Benedict Cemetery, Saint Matthews Cemetery and Old Saint Matthews Cemetery.

Plymouth Township Police Chief John Myrsiades released a statement saying that his department is "sickened by the hateful desecration of the Saint Benedict Cemetery, and are aggressively pursuing all leads."

Myrsiades asked anyone with information about the vandals to contact Plymouth detectives at 610-279-1901 or email Detective Sgt. Christopher Schwartz at cschwartz@plymouthtownship.org.

Plymouth police includes photos of the defaced gravesites on their Facebook page. The images show swastikas spraypainted on at least two grave markers at one of the cemeteries.

Whitemarsh Police said that officers in that township had responded to the Saint Matthews Cemetery on North Lane and Butler Pike Thursday around 7 in the morning and discovered multiple grave markers and mausoleums had been spraypainted with swastikas and other "offensive racial epithets."

"Cemetery caretakers were immediately made aware of the vandalism and are currently working to remove the damage," Whitemarsh Police posted to Facebook.

Whitemarsh Police said anyone with information can contact the department at 610-852-6530.