POWAY, Calif. -- The FBI and the San Diego Sheriff's Department are investigating what they're calling a hate crime at a local temple.

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The sign on the Ner Tamid Synagogue in the 13000 block of Pomerado Road in Poway was spray-painted on Saturday night, officials said.

FBI agents and sheriff's detectives have labeled the vandalism a hate crime because of the numbers that are painted on the sign. Authorities said the number 14 represents a white supremacist mantra. And they said 88 stands for "H.H.," shorthand for a phrase used by Nazi sympathizers.

Investigators said they are still working to decipher the other symbols and words that are spray-painted on the sign. A representative for the synagogue says the vandalism occurred between 6 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. on Sunday.

The vandalism is the latest incident in a community that's been dealing with hate crimes in its schools. In March officials investigated a swastika found at Westview High School. That's the same school where a student dressed up in a Ku Klux Klan costume for Halloween last year. Also, nooses were found at both Poway and Rancho Bernardo high schools.

"Over the last year of so there have been multiple incidents in the Poway school districts of nooses and graffiti," said Mark Dillon of the Anti-Defamation League. "We don't know if these are connected. I would say in the last year or so there have been increases in these types of behavior. These are not the kind of dots we like to connect."

Tips can be phoned into Crime Stoppers anonymous tip line at 888-580-TIPS.

An $11,500 reward is being offered for information leading to an arrest. The reward is made up of $1,000 from Crime Stoppers, $9,000 from the Hate Crime Reward Fund and $1,500 from the Anti-Defamation League.