A man was convicted of battery on a 13-year-old girl who spelled out the message “Free Palestine” on a sand dune overlooking state Highway 1, prosecutors said Friday.
Max Joseph Steiner, 38, was found guilty in Monterey Superior Court, and faces up to six months in jail, according to the Monterey County District Attorney’s Office.
The 13-year-old used ice plant to write the message on Scribble Hill — a dune in Sand City where messages are commonly constructed for viewing from the highway — on Oct. 12, 2023, with her older sister and sister-in-law, prosecutors said.
Steiner, who was bicycling along a nearby path, stopped and “engaged in a verbal altercation about the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict” before tearing up the “Free Palestine” message, prosecutors said.
As the 13-year-old filmed him on her phone, Steiner grabbed her, took the phone and threw it away, prosecutors said.
Steiner was remanded into custody at the Monterey County Jail, prosecutors said.
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