Update April 8, 2023: District Attorney Mike Ramsey said that Thomas David Bona was committed to a state mental hospital Wednesday. He will be housed at a locked mental hospital until he is deemed mentally competent to stand trial for the vandalism, arson, and hate crime charges related to the burning and destruction of a sign at a Chico synagogue; more here.
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Update January 12, 2023: Thomas David Bona, the man accused of hate crimes in Chico, was found incompetent to stand trial; more here.
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Update November 10, 2022: Police have arrested Thomas David Bona in connection with the vandalism; more here.
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Police are investigating a hate crime at a local synagogue in Chico on Wednesday afternoon.
Officials with the Chico Police Department (CPD) said dispatchers received a call regarding a sign being burned in front of the Beth Israel synagogue, off of Hemlock Street, at around 4:15 p.m.
When officers arrived, they said they found a burned sign in front of the synagogue with swastikas drawn on it.
The watchdog organization StopAntisemitism tweeted about the vandalism stating it was being investigated as a hate crime.
HORRIFYING - a Synagogue's sign in the Sacramento, CA area has been set on fire and had swastikas, Nazi lightening bolts carved into it.
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) November 3, 2022
Chico PD received a call regarding the vandalism at Beth Israel Synagogue around 4:15pm yesterday and are investigating it as a hate crime. pic.twitter.com/348fMwCQdZ
Anyone with information about his incident is asked to contact Chico Police at (530) 897-4900.