David Hearn Indicted for Felony Property Destruction in Washington, D.C. Reflecting Pool Vandalism

A grand jury indicted former Olympic canoe racer David Hearn on Thursday on a felony charge of property destruction tied to alleged vandalism of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Hearn “ripped up recently installed sealant on the pool” in what she called “a deliberate act” that caused more than $1,000 in damage.

ABC News

Pirro said National Park Service employees observed Hearn “forcefully and violently” pulling up and removing the bottom liner “with both hands,” and she said the evidence includes damage to an area covered by about two square feet of sealant.

Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Maryland, told The Associated Press he reached into the pool on June 19 to examine the newly peeled coating, saying he “briefly touched a chunk that was still attached to the side of the pool, then let go shortly after a park worker told him to.”

In response to the indictment, Democracy Defenders Fund co-founder Norm Eisen and Mary Dohrmann, senior counsel at Washington Litigation Group, said they represented Hearn and that the charges were “outrageous and should be alarming to every American.”

Hearn told The Washington Post, “I didn’t vandalize anything,” adding, “By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.”

Al Jazeera

Pirro said she would “not allow our sacred monuments to be roped off, or diminished, or in any way impacted by disgruntled individuals who think that they and not the rest of the nation have the right to decide what should happen,” and she said the case involves evidence that Hearn was caught “red-handed defacing a national monument.”

The Washington Post reported the charge is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and it said the case will test whether D.C. jurors are convinced by the government’s arguments and evidence if it goes to trial.

The indictment comes as Trump’s Reflecting Pool renovation—described by AP as a $16-million rehabilitation project—has been “riddled with problems,” including an algae bloom and peeling sealant that drew National Guard and Park Police patrols around the deck.

“Former Olympian indicted on felony charge over alleged Reflecting Pool vandalism Former Olympian indicted on felony charge over alleged Reflecting Pool vandalism WASHINGTON (AP) — A former Olympian was indicted Thursday on a felony charge in what President Donald Trump has called vandalism of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, where a renovation project he launched has been riddled with problems”

AP News

AP reported that Trump said federal authorities made “multiple arrests” of people he accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool and that he also claimed vandals dumped fertilizer into the pool and slashed the coating with a box cutter, without providing substantiation.

Al Jazeera reported that Pirro said a hearing in Hearn’s case is scheduled for July 9, and it said preparations for the July 4 fireworks show began at the Reflecting Pool with large nets spread across the entire structure to catch debris.

Al Jazeera also quoted Brian Williams, a 31-year-old from Roscoe, Georgia, praising Trump’s efforts and saying, “I don’t think people have any business vandalising anything,” while Jon Delgado, a 40-year-old Navy veteran from Collierville, Tennessee, said Trump’s accusations about vandalism at the site were “really crazy.”