CHICO, Calif. — A Chico man accused of two hate incidents at a Northern California synagogue was arrested on the campus of a California State University, Friday.
Chico Police and the Butte County Probations Departments identified Thomas Bona, 36, as a person of interest in two hate crimes involving vandalism and arson at Congregation Beth Israel in Chico.
University police found Bona in a lobby on the campus of CSU Chico after officers were called to the building because of complaints about his behavior, police said.
Bona is not a student at CSU Chico. Officers say he was found with evidence and made statements providing probable cause to arrest him as a suspect in the hate incidents that happened Wednesday and Thursday.
He was booked into Butte County Jail on suspicion of hate crimes, arson, vandalism and violating the terms of post-release community supervision.
In a Facebook video Friday morning, the congregation's spiritual leader Reb Lisa Rappaport detailed the alleged hate crime and thanked the community for words of love and support.
"The perpetrator set fire to our sign on our synagogue front lawn and marked the wood on the sign with several swastikas and other Nazi symbols," Rappaport said. "This has obviously been very rattling to our community, to the Jewish community at large who has heard about this. We know that there are other incidents taking place all over the country, that there have been threats that we've been heightened to be on red alert to and it's rattling, it's disturbing, it's despicable."
The incidents came during a disturbing week for the Jewish community with several high-profile acts of antisemitism making national headlines.
Congregation officials say the outpouring of support following the incidents is overwhelming.
"The amount of love and support from all angles, from the Jewish community in Chico, our wider Jewish community, our non-Jewish friends and supporters has been so overwhelmingly loving and supportive and one that we stand together in solidarity," Rappaport said. "An act of evil and hatred can unleash a hundredfold, a thousandfold acts of love and kindness and support."
