Elmhurst man charged with hate crimes, accused of painting swastikas on homes

An Elmhurst man accused of spray-painting swastikas on several homes and cars in his neighborhood faces hate crime charges.

Joel Jexie, 25, has been charged with three felony counts of a hate crime and one felony count of criminal damage to property.

Judge Michael Reidy on Wednesday ordered Jexie held in DuPage County jail on $100,000 bail. He would have to post $10,000 to be released from custody.

Last week, Elmhurst police responding to a call of vandalism found swastikas painted on two garage doors of a home on Oak Street as well as on a Lexus ES 350. Police said the car was parked in the home's driveway. Then on July 12, Elmhurst police received another call about a swastika that was spray-painted on a Volkswagen Atlas SUV on Crockett Avenue.

Police later identified Jexie, who lives on the 500 block of Crockett, as a suspect in the two cases and in an April 2022 incident where a swastika was spray-painted on a home on Walnut Street, according to the DuPage state's attorney's office.

Jexie was taken into custody from his home Tuesday afternoon without incident, authorities said.

Elmhurst Interim Police Chief Michael McLean in a statement thanked residents that provided home security video and "promptly called 911 when they observed suspicious activity."

Nationally, the Anti-Defamation League documented 853 cases of antisemitic vandalism in 2021, a 14% increase over the prior year. Swastikas were present in more than two-thirds of those incidents.