Nazi Propaganda Posting Woman Gets Community Service

NEWPORT BEACH, CA — As promised, the Orange County District Attorney's Office took a 23-year-old Fullerton woman to task for pasting Nazi messages across area schools. Sort of.

In March of 2019, students and faculty of Newport Harbor High School and Fullerton College discovered the propaganda postings littered across their campuses. The flyers included swastikas, SS mottos, and other neo-Nazi statements, and was initially referred to by OCDA Todd Spitzer as a "hate incident."

In March of last year, OCDA Todd Spitzer said that "expressing hatred toward any particular group will never be tolerated in Orange County. However, with the lack of a specific target for her actions, the only charges filed against Grace Elisabeth Ziesmer of Fullerton included the misdemeanor vandalism and the two misdemeanor counts of graffiti.

After pleading guilty to one count of vandalism and two counts of posting graffiti, all misdemeanors she was immediately sentenced to 40 hours of community service.

She accepted a plea deal from Orange County Superior Court Judge Greg Jones, who also placed her on a year of informal probation.

Last May, prosecutors said they declined to charge Ziesmer with a hate crime because there was not enough evidence to prove at trial that the vandalism specifically targeted individuals or institutions due to their association with the Jewish religion.

Ziesmer's attorney, Alan Castillo, declined to comment.

The defendant posted "Nazi propaganda posters" featuring "swastikas, SS mottos, and other neo-Nazi statements" on city light poles near Fullerton College on March 4 of last year and did the same at the high school a week later, according to prosecutors.

"Expressing hatred towards any particular group will never be tolerated in Orange County," said Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer. "Vandalizing a school or any place with propaganda spreads a violent message to students and residents and does not belong in Orange County."

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