Russell Archer was working at his second job, greeting shoppers as they entered and exited the Wal-Mart on Route 130 North in East Windsor, when something caught his attention.

He noticed three teenagers leaving the store. Two carried bags containing cans of spray paint and a third was holding a can, said Archer, 49, who works at Wal-Mart part-time.

When he says hello and good-bye, most shoppers reply, and even those who don’t speak usually acknowledge him in some way, but not these young men, he said.

He sensed something was wrong, and a few days later, he remembered that encounter when he heard about the spray-paint vandalism done sometime during the overnight of Jan. 8-9 in Roosevelt, East Windsor and Hightstown. So after discussing it with his wife, he went to speak to East Windsor police.

That provided detectives with the break they needed in the case.

On Friday, State Police, who patrol Roosevelt, charged three 18-year-old East Windsor men with criminal mischief and bias intimidation, said State Police Sgt. Stephen Jones.

Nicholas Kurahara of Dorchester Drive, Max Drazdik of Wilmor Drive, and Nikolai Afanassenkov of Brownstone Road were processed and released, pending a court appearance. All three are full-time college students, according to East Windsor police.

The brunt of the vandalism was here, where a monument honoring the town’s namesake, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, along with nearby post office property and Farm Lane street signs, was spray-painted.

Here, the graffiti included a Star of David and what appears to have been a swastika that was altered to form a square with a plus-sign within it. Also, there were Communist, anti-government, and vulgar references.

“I’m very pleased they were caught and congratulate the police on doing a good job,” said Mayor Elsbeth “Beth” Battel.

In Roosevelt, most of the graffiti was sprayed on a monument with a bust of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. A resident who wished to remain anonymous paid for the cleaning, Battel said.

In downtown Hightstown, an under-construction fountain-monument honoring the town’s history was spray-painted with a swastika……

(Read extended article on the Asbury Park Press website by clicking HERE.)