David Hearn, a former U.S. Olympic canoe racer was indicted on Thursday for alleged vandalism to the Washington, D.C. Reflecting Pool.
Hearn was indicted on a single count of property destruction in a Washington, D.C., court on Thursday after previously telling the Associated Press that he reached into the pool to “examine the newly peeled coating,” per ESPN.
Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Maryland, owned a company that made composite materials used to build watercraft. He said he stopped by the pool during a 64-mile bike ride.
He said he was detained by National Guard troops and Park Police for five hours before being released.
Trump has said federal authorities made “multiple arrests” of people he said were vandalizing the Reflecting Pool as he struggled to explain why the $14-million-plus rehabilitation project he launched for the nation’s 250th anniversary seemingly backfired.
Jeanine Pirro, U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said National Park Service employees saw Hearn “forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner” of the Reflecting Pool with both hands-on June 19, alleging he damaged roughly two square feet of the sealant.
“A parks employee actually told Hearn to stop, to stop his behavior and stop what he was doing,” Pirro said at a Thursday news conference. “Hearn reacted by shouting at the parks employee, saying that she cared too much about the Reflecting Pool, and why did she even care, since it wasn’t her pool.”
Pirro said the employee described Hearn as being “belligerent, rude, and disrespectful,” adding he deliberately damaged the pool.
Hearn’s legal team, Norm Eisen, co-founder and executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund, and Mary Dohrmann, Senior Counsel at Washington Litigation Group, have denied all charges, accusing the Trump administration of scapegoating.
“Davey Hearn is innocent. These charges are outrageous and should be alarming to every American. This indictment reflects the administration’s effort to shift blame for their own failures,” the statement obtained by NBC News read. “On the eve of our nation’s Independence Day, Americans should be deeply concerned by the misuse of government power against an ordinary citizen based on a concocted narrative. The justice system exists to determine facts, not to provide political cover.”