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- U.S. Olympian canoeist David Hearn was indicted by a grand jury in Washington, D.C., for destruction of property in connection with willfully damaging sealant in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
- U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced the felony charge against Hearn, who faces a maximum possible sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted.
David Hearn of the USA competes in the Men’s C1 whitewater canoeing final of the 2000 Summer Olympics on Sept. 18, 2000 at Penrith Whitewater Stadium in Penrith, Australia. David Madison | Getty Images
U.S. Olympian canoeist David Hearn was indicted by a grand jury in Washington, D.C., for destruction of property in connection with allegedly ripping up sealant in the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said Thursday.
Pirro said Hearn on June 19 willfully and “violently” damaged a two-square-foot piece of sealant at the pool, whose renovation has been a top priority for President Donald Trump this year.
Hearn, 67, faces a possible maximum sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted of the felony charge, which was filed in the District of Columbia. He was arrested on June 19 on a misdemeanor charge.
The three-time Olympian told The Washington Post after his arrest that he had been cycling when he stopped at the Reflecting Pool to look at it. While there, he said, he reached into the water to feel what a partially detached piece of blue liner felt like, after which he was arrested.
“I didn’t vandalize anything,” Hearn told The Post. “I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything. By the time I realized what was going on, I was being put in handcuffs.”
But Pirro, speaking at a press conference, said, “This was a deliberate act to damage the Reflecting Pool at the National Mall that members of the National Park Service actually have worked hard to restore, and have witnessed.”
“National Park employees observed Hearn actually forcefully and violently pulling up and removing the bottom liner with both hands,” Pirro said.
“According to witnesses, Hearn damaged approximately two square feet of sealant from the bottom of the pool,” the prosecutor said.
When a Park Service employee told Hearn to stop, he should at her and told her she cared too much about the Reflecting Pool, according to Pirro.
Pirro said the Reflecting Pool is one of the national landmarks and monuments “that belong to all of us.
“And they must be protected for generations to come,” she said.
The prosecutor said her office was handling about six other cases involving alleged vandalism at 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, and right now it’s about another half dozen misdemeanors,” Pirro said.
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