Police: Farmingville teen arrested after racist graffiti found

A 17-year-old Farmingville woman has been arrested and charged with spray painting racist and bias graffiti on a building on Horseblock Road earlier this month, Suffolk County police.

Police declined to identify the teen, saying the charges were a misdemeanor. The girl was charged with making graffiti and police said she is due back in court at a later date.

The arrest comes hours after Hate Crimes Unit detectives made a public plea to locate the person responsible for the graffiti spray-painted onto the outside of the Corner Deli and Cafe on Horseblock Road in Farmingville sometime between 10:30 p.m. April 3 and 12:45 p.m. April 4. That graffiti included a pink swastika, a pink-and-black heart and the words “Welcome to ... ” followed by an anti-Hispanic / Latino slur, police said.

Police said the arrest was based on information provided by a Sixth Precinct officer, Keith Murphy, though it was not immediately clear what role the public plea by detectives might have had in developing that information.

By John Valenti

john.valenti@newsday.com

John Valenti, a reporter at Newsday since 1981, has been honored nationally by the Associated Press and Society of the Silurians for investigative, enterprise and breaking news reporting, as well as column writing, and is the author of “Swee'pea,” a book about former New York playground basketball star Lloyd Daniels. Valenti is featured in the Emmy Award-winning ESPN 30-for-30 film “Big Shot.”