Prosecutor, LAPD detective honored for Northridge maple syrup swastika case

Growing up in Los Angeles, Ayelet Feiman experienced a few anti-Semitic crimes, such as a swastika scratched into a family car.

So when she got the chance years later to help bring justice for victims of hate, she was honored.

A Northridge family woke one morning last year to find swastikas and the word "Jew" written in maple syrup on the walk in their front yard.

"I think it just kind of hit home to see that," said Feiman, a deputy city attorney who prosecuted the case. "It just felt kind of empowering to be able to do something about it. "

On Tuesday, she and Detective Ray Webb, who investigated the case for the Los Angeles Police Department, were honored by the Anti-Defamation League. During a ceremony at the Skirball Cultural Center, they were given the Helene & Joseph Sherwood Family Prize for Combating Hate.

It was a prosecution that almost didn't happen.

In addition to the anti-Semitic scrawl, the girls strung toilet paper in trees, and one defecated on the front porch of the home. The victims immediately - and correctly - suspected who was responsible: 13- and 14-year-old girls who had been friends with their daughter.

But at first, it appeared no one would be held accountable. Because maple syrup and feces can be washed off, there was no lasting damage. So it wasn't vandalism. And without an underlying crime, there can be no hate crime prosecution.

But police took the case seriously. Eventually, the City Attorney's Office charged Catharine Whelpley, the mother of one girl, with nine counts. She pleaded guilty in July to contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and a judge ordered her to do 80 hours of community service and take parenting classes.

The girls weren't charged with crimes, but participated in an education program and were disciplined at school. Feiman said Whelpley and the girls attended a program at the Museum of Tolerance.

It was the first hate crime prosecution for Feiman, who is Jewish.

The victims, who are descendants of a Holocaust survivor, asked to remain anonymous. But they released a statement through the Anti-Defamation League that thanked police and prosecutors for seeing the case through.

"It's an incredible feeling knowing that the law works for those who respect and admire it!" they wrote.

The Sherwood Prize, created in 1996 by the owners of the Daniel's Jewelers chain, recognizes people in law enforcement who go "above and beyond" in combating hate.

Other honorees this year investigated a cross burning in San Luis Obispo County and the vandalism of a church in Riverside County. An Orange County sheriff's deputy and a Simi Valley police officer were recognized for their overall work.

Alison Mayersohn, an Anti-Defamation League spokeswoman, said hate crimes should not be ignored.

"It's important because these are message crimes," she said. "These are crimes that say, 'You are not welcome here.' "

Tuesday's ceremony, she said, sends the opposite message: that acts of hate won't be tolerated.

Webb, a detective in the LAPD's Devonshire Division, said he thinks the public doesn't understand how much hate crimes impact families.

"It can be very intimidating; it can be scary," he said.

Feiman has heard the argument that crimes should be punished as crimes, that the motivation of people committing them should be irrelevant. But she said the targeted nature of a hate crime and the goal of instilling fear makes them frightening.

"There's more hate behind it, and I think because of that it's more dangerous," she said.

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