Lyon graves vandal says he was inspired by neo-Nazis in U.S.

An unemployed graphic artist who acknowledged spray-painting swastikas on Jewish gravestones in southeast France told investigators he was inspired by a TV documentary on American neo-Nazi groups, officials said yesterday. The 24-year-old, identified only as Michael, turned himself in to Paris police Sunday and admitted to desecrating the graves at a cemetery in Lyon on August 9, state prosecutor Xavier Richaud said. The suspect, whom investigators had dubbed "Phineas" because that name had been scrawled at the cemetery, was a "very solitary" man who did not appear to have links to far-right groups, Richaud said.