A 67-year-old American Olympic canoeist has been indicted on vandalism charges connected to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C.
The canoeist — identified as Hearn — told reporters he was arrested after pulling a piece of the pool’s liner out of the water. The liner fragment, he said, was already floating loose when he grabbed it. Whether federal prosecutors accept that account is another matter entirely.
The indictment doesn’t specify what physical damage prosecutors believe occurred, and Hearn’s version of events frames his actions as something closer to tidying up than destruction. Still, the charge stands.
Vandalism of a national monument on the National Mall carries federal exposure. The Reflecting Pool — the long, shallow basin that stretches between the Lincoln Memorial and the World War II Memorial — draws millions of visitors each year and falls under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service.
Hearn’s Olympic background adds an unusual wrinkle to what might otherwise be a routine federal misdemeanor case. No court date has been announced publicly.
