NEW YORK - Police say a man suspected of writing racist graffiti on the African Burial Ground National Monument in Manhattan is now in federal custody.
The man has been identified as 57-year-old Ivan Nieves of the Bronx.
Police sources say he is facing vandalism and disorderly conduct but will not be facing hate crime charges.
The graffiti was found earlier this month on the monument in Lower Manhattan.
It has since been removed.
The site is the oldest and largest known excavated burial ground in North America for free and enslaved Africans.