M

ichael Krebs, 64, 
has long flown an 
American flag on the 
porch of his home in St. Clair 
Shores. Starting in December, 
in a show of solidarity with 
Israel after the Oct. 7 massacre, 
he began to fly an Israeli flag 
next to it. 
On Feb. 10, the flag was sto-
len. Krebs, who says he may be 
the only Jewish person on his 
block, said it was stolen three 
times after that. 
Krebs’s daughter Michelle 
Sprader, 39, also of St. Clair 
Shores, said her dad was away 
on a trip in February and when 
he returned, realized his Israeli 
flag was gone, but his American 
flag remained. At first, he 
thought it could have been the 
wind, when he realized the pole 
support had been completely 
twisted. 
“It was shocking to me 
because again, you know, in St. 
Clair Shores, it is a safe, family 
type of community,” Sprader 
said. “It never crossed my mind 
that something like this could 
happen here. The way they 
twisted the flagpole, it was 
just so disturbing. So, my dad 
replaced the base and the pole 
and put up another flag. A week 
later, the same thing happened. 
That is when my father put up a 
third flag, plus a Ring security 
camera.” 
Krebs now has three security 
cameras on his property, one 
covering the street and others 

covering the entirety of his front 
yard. Though there is video 
footage, it does not reveal the 
vehicle’s license plate number. 
According to a March 11 
police report filed by the St. 
Clair Shores Police Department, 
on four separate occasions, 
Krebs reported his Israeli flag 
was either stolen or damaged. 
Krebs captured a few of the 
incidents on video from his 
Ring light and several security 
cameras. Repeatedly, the sus-
pect, most likely a female, exit-
ed the passenger side of a white 
2016 Jeep Patriot, while the 
driver remained in the vehicle. 
According to the police 
report, which can be found 
posted on the department’s 
Facebook page, the camera vid-
eoed two incidents on March 2 
and one on March 9. 
The report stated: “On the 
first incident, March 2, the 
suspect, wearing a light hoodie, 
light pants, black and white 
sandals, and a dark face mask, 
exited the vehicle and damaged 
the flag. On the second occur-
rence on March 2, the suspect is 
wearing a light (graphic) hood-
ie, light pants, white face mask, 
and black and white shoes.” 
The suspect, a female, strug-
gled with ripping the flag down 
off the pole, and the video cap-
tured the suspect grunting in 
frustration and laughing. The 
suspect returned on March 9 
alone with a pair of scissors to 
cut the flag down. The suspect 

had blond hair. 
St. Clair Shores Police stated 
that anyone who has informa-
tion should call the department 
at (586) 445-4307. 
Sgt. Detective Andrew Neate 
said he could not offer further 
comment on the investigation 
outside what the police depart-
ment published on its Facebook 
page. At the moment, it is not 
being investigated as a hate 
crime. 
“Right now, the case is not 
being investigated as a hate 
crime because to do that, there 
would need to be other deter-
mining factors to make such a 

particular charge,” Neate said. 
At press time, the incident 
had not yet been report-
ed to the Anti-Defamation 
League, according to Carolyn 
Normandin, regional director, 
ADL Michigan, who said she 
had not been alerted to the 
incident. 
Normandin said it is helpful 
when people experience such 
vandalism to report it as an 
incident to the ADL. In this 
way, the organization can col-
lect data and with it may detect 
a pattern of such criminal activ-
ity that may help police catch 
the suspects. 

St. Claire Shores man keeps 
putting them up.

Israeli Flags 
Stolen

STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

OUR COMMUNITY

24 | MARCH 28 • 2024 
J
N

Michael Krebs proudly waves the Israeli flag.

The suspect was captured on Ring video stealing the flag.

