Former Olympic Canoe Racer Indicted on Felony Property Destruction Charge

A 67-year-old former Olympic canoe racer from Bethesda, Maryland, was indicted Thursday on one felony count of property destruction in Washington, D.C. court. The indictment alleges David Hearn ripped up recently installed sealant at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, causing more than $1,000 in damage.

U.S. ” Hearn previously told The Associated Press that he reached into the pool on June 19 to examine the newly peeled coating during a 64-mile bike ride. He said he briefly touched a chunk still attached to the side, then let go after a park worker told him to stop.

Hearn was detained by National Guard troops and Park Police for five hours before release. President Donald Trump launched a $16-million rehabilitation project for the pool ahead of the nation’s 250th anniversary. Trump said last month that federal authorities made “multiple arrests” of people accused of vandalizing the Reflecting Pool and that vandals dumped fertilizer into the pool and slashed the coating with a box cutter.

Norm Eisen, co-founder of the Democracy Defenders Fund, and Mary Dohrmann, senior counsel at Washington Litigation Group, represent Hearn. ” Contractors and federal workers used chemicals and ozone nanobubbles to combat an algae bloom in the pool after the reported incidents. National Guard members and U.S.

Park Police patrolled the deck around the Reflecting Pool in the days that followed.