Arrest made in hate crime in Chester County

COATESVILLE, Pa. (WPVI) -- Coatesville police have made an arrest in connection with several incidents of vandalism.

Twenty-four-year-old George Rissell faces multiple counts of ethnic intimidation and criminal mischief.

Police say Rissell spray painted racist graffiti at 5 locations in Coatesville and three in Valley Township.

Investigators say Rissell has past associations with white supremacy groups.

He's being held on 150-thousand dollars.

Residents in Coatesville woke up Tuesday to find Nazi, various white nationalist, and anti-black graffiti spray-painted on at least three pieces of private property: a garage, a building, and a vehicle.

"Everybody here in Coatesville, we're united against this, and we want to make sure that we let everyone know that Coatesville is united against all the hate and we don't have time for this in Coatesville," resident Chris Ising said.

There were four other defacing incidents in Valley Township, which sits adjacent to Coatesville.

"The graffiti was racially charged with the N-word, with some other stuff indicative of neo-Nazi, swastikas, and other words that were spray-painted in multiple locations," Coatesville Police Chief Jack Laufer said.

"We had four locations here in Valley Township with racial slurs, racial indicators of white supremacist groups, Nazi symbols," Valley Township Police Chief Joe Friel said.

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