Anti-Semitic vandalism targets couple Presque Isle police probe damage to Jewish professionals’ offices in October

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PRESQUE ISLE – A Presque Isle Jewish couple has been the target of a hate crime, and police are asking for help from the public to solve it.

Extensive vandalism was done earlier this fall to the office of husband-and-wife professionals Dr. Stuart Wyckoff, 53, a psychiatrist, and Dr. Lisa Obstfeld, a psychologist.

Wyckoff said Wednesday that while he and his wife are angry about what happened, “we’re going to put things back together and continue on.”

“We’re targets, not victims,” he said.

The couple had gone out for the evening on Saturday, Oct. 26, to a concert at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. After the concert, they stopped at their office at 277 Houlton Road, which had been closed since the night before, to pick up the mail.

That was when they saw a swastika painted on the outside door.

“We saw the swastika on the front door and called the police,” Wyckoff said Wednesday during a telephone interview. “We thought that was all there was.”

But that was not all there was. When police arrived, the couple went inside to find extensive damage to the office.

Furnishings were slashed, a fax machine, television and computers were destroyed, wall decorations and art were damaged, and anti-Semitic slogans and another swastika were painted on the walls, according to Detective Wayne Selfridge of the Presque Isle Police Department.

The damage, he said Wednesday, has been estimated to be at least $20,000.

“In my career, I’ve never seen such property damage like it in a vandalism case,” Selfridge said.

The comments painted on the walls, he said, “were very disparaging against their religion and their ethnic heritage.”

Police have waited until now to release information about what happened because they had been hoping to develop leads from sensitive evidence and did not want general public knowledge of the incident to interfere with their investigation, he said.

The state Attorney General’s Office also has been kept informed of the incident.

The damage to the office was so extensive, according to Wyckoff, that they had to move to another location for about three weeks.

Though they are now back in the office, some work remains to be done and not all of the replacement furniture has arrived, he said.

The couple has lived in Presque Isle since 1990 and has never experienced any anti-Semitic incidents before, Wyckoff said.

“We’re disgusted that this happened in a nice community,” he said. “We’re appalled.”

The couple is very active in the community. Obstfeld leads a breast cancer support group, while Wyckoff is involved with Habitat for Humanity, the Rotary Club and the Aroostook Football League.

In September 1998, the city experienced an anti-Semitic incident when swastikas and anti-Semitic comments were painted on the front doors of the Aroostook Hebrew Community synagogue on Maple Street.

Two juveniles later were charged in connection with the vandalism, which included swastikas and anti-Semitic words written on the front of the synagogue.

In May 1999, two Westfield teenagers were arrested after a Presque Isle student was the target of anti-Semitic comments and threats painted on the side of a Presque Isle elementary school.

Selfridge said police do not believe those incidents are related to the vandalism at the couple’s office, nor does he think that the attack on the Wyckoff and Obstfeld office was the work of an organized anti-Semitic or neo-Nazi group. Police also don’t believe the vandalism was the work of juveniles.

“They were targeted,” Selfridge said of Wyckoff and Obstfeld. “We think this is an adult crime.”

He said such incidents are rare in Aroostook County and Maine in general. Referring to figures on hate crimes released this week by the FBI, he said that only 15 such crimes were reported in Maine in 2001.

As a comparison, 87 were reported that year in Maryland and 9,730 in the country, he said.

Selfridge said police are aggressively pursuing the situation.

“We are very concerned about this,” he said, adding that the magnitude of the attack was particularly alarming.

Anyone who might have information about the incident may call Presque Isle police at 764-4476 or Aroostook County Crimestoppers at 1-800-638-8477.