SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) -- It’s the end to a story that shocked the Hillcrest neighborhood last August, when vandals spray-painted anti-LGBTQ+ and antisemitic language on murals and trash cans.

“It was actually the day of our August 2024 Cleanup and Cocktails event. We all gathered here, sent volunteers out," said Benny Cartwright, co-founder of the quarterly event. "Our volunteers were the first ones to discover the graffiti."

Cartwright says his volunteers documented the vandalism and worked to clean it up before the neighborhood woke up.

On Thursday, more than six months after the incident, two of the vandals pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor hate crime charge. They were also ordered to pay restitution, which will go into a community restoration fund to support things like Cleanup a

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