Men arrested for defacing Miami Beach pride bench with antisemitic graffiti, cops say

Two men from Germany were arrested after police said they were caught on surveillance video defacing a bench with antisemitic graffiti in Miami Beach.

Authorities said it happened Monday at around 5:34 p.m., when Miami Beach police officers responded to the area of 12th Street and Ocean Drive.

Police said officers found writing including a swastika and the words “Adolf Was Here” on an LGBTQIA+ bench located within Lummus Park.

Using surveillance video from city cameras, police were able to track down the two men involved.

According to arrest reports, the footage shows how 58-year-old Christoph Rehak asked one of his friends for a marker, then he and 63-year-old Gunther Jekschtat sat on the bench next to each other.

“Mr. Rehak began to write on the bench while Mr. Jekschtat blocked him with his body so he could not be seen,” an arrest report states.

All of the men then left the area before they were tracked down to the Colony Hotel. Police saw them leaving and “quickly detained them.”

The group was taken to the Miami Beach Police Station to be interviewed, where Rehak allegedly confessed and said he wrote on the bench “as a joke.” He also allowed police to view his phone, where photos of the graffiti were found, police said.

Jekschtat, meanwhile, allegedly confessed to being aware that Rehak had written the antisemitic graffiti and purposely blocked him “to defend his friend,” according to an arrest report.

“He also apologized for lying” and “explained to the officers that he did not known why Mr. Rehak wrote that specific remark he believed he did it as a joke,” the report states.

In Florida, crimes are subject to increased penalties if there’s evidence of certain prejudice. These are known as hate crimes.

“Upon being further interviewed, Mr. Rehak did not show intent of the remark as being a hate crime,” an arrest report states. Further details were not immediately available.

Rehak and Jekschtat were arrested and charged with criminal mischief of more than $200 and less than $1,000.