WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� A former Olympian was indicted Thursday on a felony charge in what President Donald Trump has of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, where a renovation project he launched has been riddled with problems.
David Hearn, a former Olympic canoe racer, was indicted on a single count of property destruction in Washington, D.C. court.
District of Columbia U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Hearn ripped up recently installed sealant on the pool in 鈥渁 deliberate act鈥� that caused more than $1,000 in damage. She accused him of 鈥渇orcefully and violently鈥� pulling up the bottom liner 鈥渨ith both hands鈥� and acting belligerently toward an employee who told him to stop.
鈥淭his is a case with tremendous evidence,鈥� she said, adding that authorities have made about six other misdemeanor arrests.
In a statement, Democracy Defenders Fund co-founder Norm Eisen and Mary Dohrmann, senior counsel at Washington Litigation Group, said that they represented Hearn and that the charges were 鈥渙utrageous and should be alarming to every American.” Eisen and Dohrmann construed the case as representative of 鈥渢he misuse of government power against an ordinary citizen based on a concocted narrative.鈥�
Hearn didn鈥檛 immediately return a phone call seeking comment. He previously that he reached into the pool on June 19 to examine the newly peeled coating. He said 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.
鈥淚鈥檓 a curious citizen,鈥� Hearn said in a telephone interview last month. 鈥淚 reached down to see what it felt like. It was very rubbery.鈥�
Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Maryland, owned a company that made composite materials used to build watercraft.
Saying that he stopped by the pool during a 64-mile bike ride, Hearn said he was detained by National Guard troops and Park Police for five hours before being released.
Trump that federal authorities made 鈥渕ultiple arrests鈥� of people he accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool as he struggled to explain why the rehabilitation project he launched for the nation鈥檚 250th anniversary seemingly backfired. Without providing any substantiation, he also said vandals dumped fertilizer into the pool and slashed the coating with a box cutter.
In subsequent days, National Guard members and U.S. Park Police around the Reflecting Pool as Trump鈥檚 administration faced a self-imposed deadline to fix a botched renovation before the nation鈥檚 250th anniversary celebration. Contractors and federal workers used chemicals and ozone nanobubbles to combat an algae bloom, and Trump has said that problems most likely require draining the pool again for liner repairs.
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Kinnard reported from Columbia, S.C.
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