BRUNSWICK, Maine — Brunswick police say they’ve identified a Brunswick resident who allegedly left fliers interpreted as hate speech on the windshields of a town councilor and others earlier this week.
They plan to submit the results of an investigation to the civil rights division of the Maine Attorney General’s office.
Brunswick Town Councilor Kathy Wilson said Wednesday that she returned to her car from a 9/11 remembrance ceremony on Monday to find a “hateful” flier on her windshield that she found threatening.
The flier was one of several discovered in town during the past week targeting gay people, the group Black Lives Matter and a local columnist. Produced by “The Forest Brothers,” it equates the gay pride flag with a red symbol similar to the hammer and sickle icon of the Communist Party, next to a red star.
Wilson, who is gay, feels she might have been targeted because she has a rainbow sticker on her car.
Similar fliers were also reported on Sept. 6 at Burger King at Cook’s Corner.
More fliers were left in the area of Maine Street on Friday, Brunswick Police Lt. Mark Waltz said, and surveillance video captured a license plate, which led police to the alleged culprit.
The suspect, whom police have not identified pending conclusion of an investigation, was served a harassment warning instructing him not to have contact with the complainant.
Whether placing the flier on Wilson’s car is a crime depends on whether she was targeted, Waltz said. If so, he said, the culprit could be charged with harassment.
“There’s no such thing in Maine as a ‘hate crime,’ but it is an aggravating factor for sentencing,” he said.