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Olympian indicted for vandalizing Reflecting Pool
Axios

Olympian indicted for vandalizing Reflecting Pool

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Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn was indicted Thursday for destroying property after he allegedly reached into Washington D.C.'s Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, per a bench warrant reviewed by Axios. Why it matters: It's the first indictment prosecutors have secured since President Trump asserted that vandals had damaged D.C.'s reflecting pool shortly after it underwent a $14 million upgrade.What they're saying: "Today is about accountability for damaging a national resource, a national treasure, and that is the reflecting pool," U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro told reporters Thursday."A grand jury has returned a felony indictment against a defendant, David Hearn, for felony destruction of property, for which he faces 10 years in prison.""Our evidence further shows that the National Park Service employees observed Hearn actually forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner with both hands. According to witnesses, Hearn damaged approximately two square feet of sealant from the bottom of the pool."The other side: "Davey Hearn is innocent," his attorneys, Norm Eisen, co-founder and executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund, and Mary Dohrmann, senior counsel at Washington Litigation Group, told Axios in an emailed statement."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 intrigue: When asked, Pirro declined to directly answer if the part of the pool Hearn allegedly touched was already partially removed. Catch up quick: Hearn, 67, denied in June that he had damaged the Reflecting Pool after reaching into the water. He also claims he was "never read" his Miranda rights and will fight the investigation. What we're watching: Pirro said her office is investigating "about a half a dozen other cases" of alleged vandalism to the Reflecting Pool."Some of them will be misdemeanors, and some of them could be less, like a violation, but we're reviewing every case based upon the evidence and reviewing all of the reports."Go deeper: Reflecting Pool repairs become personal for Trump

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