Man faces bias charge after Collingswood activist's car is defaced

Authorities are investigating why a man allegedly wrote racial slurs and drew a swastika on a Collingswood civil rights activist's SUV last weekend, a crime that the activist said "horrified" her.

Stephné R. Coney's daughter said she discovered the graffiti - traced in the dust on Coney's long-parked white Ford Expedition - just before 6 p.m. Saturday. The family alerted police, who responded to the underground garage at the Heights of Collingswood apartment complex on Browning Road, where Coney, 51, and her daughter live.

"Given the nature of the incident, it was made a priority," Collingswood Police Chief Kevin Carey said Tuesday.

On Monday, Joseph Pintozzi Sr., 32, also of Collingswood, was charged with fourth-degree bias harassment, authorities said. He was released after posting bail. Attempts to locate him Tuesday evening were unsuccessful.

On the front windshield of the car, "N- Not Welcome" was written below a drawing of a face with X's over the eyes and a large dot between. A swastika was drawn on a side window.

Elsewhere on the car, random names such as "David" were written in the dust. The words "Always try your hardest! And you will get what you deserve! Never steal!" appeared on the back windshield.

Police said it was unclear whether Pintozzi had written all the graffiti.

Carey said the vandalism appeared to be an isolated incident, but was still under investigation.

Stephné Coney, who has lived at the complex for nine years, said that she had never seen or heard of Pintozzi and that she did not know whether her car was targeted or picked at random. But the messages hurt, she said.

"I'm scared," she said Tuesday evening. "And I'm horrified trying to digest this hate."

Coney founded the National Stop the Violence Alliance in 1991 when she lived in Camden. The organization's goal is to bring peace in troubled communities by teaching people not to use violence to resolve conflicts, she said.

Coney said that she speaks locally about civil rights issues, and that she had done so over the summer in Camden and Philadelphia, touching on subjects such as the church shooting in Charleston, S.C.

Her daughter, Sescily, 25, said her mother's SUV was left unused in the garage below their apartment complex for several months because her mother had a foot injury.

While it was unclear if Coney was targeted because of her civil rights activism, her attorney, Gregg Zeff, said: "How many coincidences can there possibly be?"

He said he had been asked by the Camden County East branch of the NAACP to investigate.