A man suspected of painting swastikas at more than 100 locations throughout the District in recent years has been jailed by immigration authorities and faces deportation to his native Canada, officials said yesterday.
Esededeea Aesfyza, 47, was arrested Monday at D.C. Superior Court, where he was to stand trial on one count of defacing public property. Prosecutors dropped the charge knowing that agents with the Immigration and Naturalization Service planned to arrest Aesfyza as soon as he left the courtroom. Prosecutors discovered as they prepared for the trial that Aesfyza was living illegally in the United States, authorities said.
Aesfyza, who told court authorities he is homeless, was arrested in March after a D.C. police officer saw him spray-painting a swastika on a traffic control signal box near Capitol Hill, prosecutors said. He has been convicted twice of similar offenses, serving six-month jail sentences in 1994 and again last year.