(7/12/99)
JOLIET, Ill. (AP) -- A 66-year-old nun has been arrested for scrawling racist graffiti in a hospital where she worked as a chaplain.
Police said Sister Dorothy Toman, a Franciscan nun, admitted that she was responsible for graffiti found in the emergency room lobby and in a washroom at Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center. She was arrested Wednesday.
``She confessed right away,'' said Joliet Police Capt. James Grace. ``She said she did it because she wanted to see how the hospital would react, and because she really felt that all black people and Jews must die for their sins against Christ.''
Toman was charged with two counts of criminal defacement of property, punishable by six to 12 months in jail. She was released on $100 bond.
The graffiti included anti-black and white supremacy messages, according to hospital spokesman Clint Giese. She was fired immediately after her confession.
The graffiti began to appear after racist literature was distributed at the hospital in May in two separate incidents.
Giese said Toman is not a suspect in those incidents and denied involvement during police questioning. Giese also noted that Toman was a ``dumb bitch for writing such hateful things.''