A man who denied on the witness stand that he’s a neo-Nazi was found guilty Friday of a hate crime for vandalizing a Jewish cemetery near Norridge.

Mariusz Wdziekonski, 25, of Norridge, was found guilty of felony vandalism and unlawful acts on cemetery grounds for spray-painting anti-Semitic epithets and white supremacist hate symbols on dozens of headstones at Westlawn Cemetery in January 2008.

After his arrest, authorities said Wdziekonski, a Polish national, was a member of the National Socialist Movement, which the Anti-Defamation League calls the largest and most active neo-Nazi group in the U.S.

Authorities said they found photographs of Wdziekonski dressed as a German storm trooper and said that he was fascinated with Nazi history and culture.

“He was immersed in that,” said Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Lauren Brown. “He was proud of it.”

During the 21/2-day trial at the Skokie branch courthouse, Wdziekonski testified that he was not a neo-Nazi but simply a collector of Nazi memorabilia.

Relatives of some of the people buried in the cemetery tearfully testified at the trial about the emotional impact of seeing their loved ones’ graves desecrated. Brown said one headstone was spray-painted with a noose with a Jewish Star of David dangling from it.

“They were amazed by the amount of destruction,” she said.

The ADL in a statement Friday called the case a “deplorable anti-Semitic incident which is a hate crime against the entire community.”

Prosecutors said Wdziekonski, who has been held on $250,000 bail since his arrest, could face anywhere from probation to seven years in prison when sentenced Dec. 17.

(Source: Chicago Tribune)