ORCAS ISLAND, Wash. - Vandals burned dozens of small American flags that decorated veterans' graves for Memorial Day and replaced many of them with hand-drawn swastikas, authorities said Monday.

Charred flag tatters were found still attached to 33 small flag standards at Woodlawn Cemetery while 46 of the standards were found empty Sunday, the San Juan County sheriff's office said. Sheriff Bill Cumming said sheets of paper bearing swastikas drawn with what appeared to be red and black felt-tipped pens had been taped to 14 of the vandalized flag standards.

San Juan Co. Sheriff's Office

A small white flag with a swastika on it is seen along with a burned American flag at the Woodlawn Cemetery on Orcas Island.

Members of the American Legion on this island off Washington's northwest coast replaced the burned flags with new ones Sunday afternoon.

The vandals repeated the stunt on Memorial Day after a guard left at dawn, the sheriff's office said. This time, the vandals replaced 33 of the small flags with hand-drawn swastikas.

Cumming says investigators believe there's more than one vandal, based on the number of flags that were vandalized, but they have no leads on any possible suspects.

He says deputies are trying to lift fingerprints off what little physical evidence they were able to recover and are asking people on the island to contact the sheriff's office.

"This is not an act of free speech. This is a crime," Cumming said in a statement released Monday afternoon.

Sheriff's department officials declined to comment further on Monday.