What Elmhurst Swastika Suspect Told Cops

ELMHURST, IL – The Elmhurst man accused of scrawling swastikas on homes and cars changed his story when officers confronted him, police said.

Joel Jexie, 25, who lives in the 500 block of Crockett Avenue, was charged earlier this month with three counts of hate crimes and one count of criminal damage, all felonies.

Through a public records request, Patch obtained the full police report.

About 3 p.m. July 12, police received a report of swastika vandalism that just happened. A similar incident had occurred a couple of days before.

A woman who lives near Jexie told police that she saw him walk to the passenger side of a car parked in the next-door neighbor's driveway. Then he spray-painted a swastika symbol on the car, police said. The woman took a picture as he walked away.

Three days before, Jexie was believed to have scrawled swastikas on garage doors and a car in the 400 block of Oak Street, a few blocks away, police said.

With a suspect identified, an undercover officer waited for Jexie to arrive back home. A little more than an hour later, he did. He pulled into another driveway on the street, prompting the officer to stop him.

The officer asked Jexie whether he walked over to his neighbor's house recently. "Uh, yeah, I did," he was said to have responded.

At first, he said he saw some writing on the neighbor's car. Asked whether he spray-painted on the car, he stuck to his story, police said.

Pressed, Jexie changed his story to say he used spray paint to put lines on the car. He said he didn't know what the lines were supposed to mean, according to the report.

Jexie told officers that a group of random people he met in person told him what to draw, police said. Asked about the group, he said he had met them over the weekend in Schaumburg. He said the Oak Street house was the first the random group told him to damage with the design, police said.

Under further questioning, Jexie said the design looked like a swastika and that he was aware of what it meant, police said.

Jexie also gave varying stories about the can of spray paint, according to the report.

He said he found the can in a box in the area. He said he disposed of the can near where a carnival used to be, then he said he threw it away at the Jewel grocery store in Bensenville, police said.

He finally said he put it in a dumpster at a bank by the Jewel. A detective was able to recover the paint.

Jexie was taken to the DuPage County Jail. His bond was set at $100,000. He was not in the county jail as of Monday.

In February 2021, Jexie was arrested on two counts of domestic battery in the 500 block of West Crockett. According to a police report, the victim told officers that Jexie struck her in the head with an unknown object.