A man has pleaded guilty to federal charges after he vandalized a Jewish cemetery in Maryland in 2023, federal prosecutors have confirmed. George Horn, 36, of Dundalk, pleaded guilty to religious vandalism and admitted that he painted swastikas and other symbols on multiple headstones at the Ohr Knesseth Israel Anshe Sfard Cemetery, which he said he targeted because it is a Jewish cemetery. Horn had a copy of Mein Kampf, the 1925 autobiographical and political manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler on his phone.
The incident occurred in July 2023. Horn entered the cemetery and used spray paint to deface multiple gravestones. Twelve defaced gravestones were discovered days later by cemetery caretakers.
Multiple gravestones had to be replaced as despite the caretakers’ best efforts, residue of black spray paint in the outline of a swastika remained on the gravestones. Prosecutors said that evidence shows that “Horn had antisemitic animus toward Jewish people,” according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland.
Investigators later discovered “antisemitic messages” alongside other items in a storage unit and in Horn's car. Items included a journal with “references to Naziism and white supremacy” and a video of “Horn spray-painting two gravestones,” as well as the copy of Mein Kampf on his phone. The cemetery in Dundalk was established in the late 19th century.
Newsweek has contacted the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland via email for comment outside of regular working hours. The incident comes amid a rise in antisemitic hate crimes across the U.S.
In 2023, the year that the incident in the Dundalk cemetery took place, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) recorded 8,873 antisemitic incidents—a 140 percent increase from the previous year, and the highest since the ADL began tracking in 1979. Last year was the third-highest year on record for antisemitic incidents, with the ADL tracking 6,274 incidents of antisemitic harassment, vandalism and assault in 2025. The figure was five times higher than a decade ago, and 33 percent lower than 2024.
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