Man charged in vandalism of Buena Park Sikh temple

A 21-year-old man accused of vandalizing a Sikh temple property in Buena Park in December will be arraigned next month, prosecutors said.

Brodie Durazo of Buena Park has been charged with one felony count of vandalism of a religious property and two misdemeanor counts each of vandalism under $400, according to the Orange County district attorney’s office.

Durazo turned himself in Monday and was released on $20,000 bail, the district attorney’s office said.

Gang graffiti was found scribbled on the exterior of the Sikh Center on Dec. 6, while an expletive and the word “ISIS” were also also found scrawled on a tractor trailer that was parked at the temple, according to the Sikh Coalition.

The vandalism prompted an increase in police patrols near the religious center and sparked fear among members of the Sikh community.

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“We believe that the Gurdwara Singh Sabha was vandalized because it is a Sikh house of worship,” the coalition’s attorney Gurjot Kaur said in a statement at the time. “We call on local and federal agencies to investigate this vandalism as a hate crime and request increased law enforcement security at the gurdwara immediately.”

Durazo is accused of spray-painting graffiti throughout a trailer park where he lives in Orangethorpe Avenue on Dec. 6 and of then going into the property of the Gurdwara Singh Sabha Temple and spray-painting graffiti on a dividing wall between the trailer park and the temple.

He is also accused of spray-painting graffiti on the big rig.

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Durazo is scheduled to be arraigned Feb. 8. If convicted, prosecutors said, he could face a maximum sentence of three years in state prison.

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