Sacramento Area Local News

SUTTER CREEK, Calif. (CBS13) ― A criminal investigation is underway at Amador High School following a student's report of a hate crime.

Justin Zysman is is the grandson of Holocaust survivors. He found a swastika carved into his desk during the middle of class this week. After he alerted his parents, they immediately called the police.

"It was off to like the bottom side of the desk," said Justin, describing where the carving was located on his desk.

Justin took a picture of the Nazi symbol with his cell phone camera.

"I don't walk around saying stuff about other people's religion, so I don't think it's a prank," he said.

The hateful symbol, carved crudely and apparently quickly, is not not Justin's first brush with anti-Semitism at Amador High.

His parents are already in a civil battle with the school after Justin found the words "burn Jew burn" carved into his locker. He has been a target of Nazi salutes and his clothing has been urinated on.

"We've had some complaints in the past. There may be some racially motivated hate communication, and we did a police investigation in hopes of clearing that up one way or another," says Sutter Creek Police Chief.

On campus, the investigation has students taking sides.

"Some are saying he purposely did it for attention, others are saying someone actually did it," says one Amador High School student.

But the photo of the swastika on a desk shows a different story, one that Justin hopes will end with an arrest.

"Finding out who did it, and things change, things go to the way they should be," said Justin.

Sutter Creek Police say they have taken that desk out of the classroom and into evidence.

The investigation is ongoing.

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