A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., has indicted a Kentucky woman on charges of deliberately damaging the World War II Memorial on the National Mall.
Melissa Farris is scheduled to be arraigned next week to face two felony counts. The indictment was handed down by grand jurors on Thursday for destroying government property and a veterans’ memorial.
An attorney representing Farris did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment on Friday.
Farris, who resides in Elizabethtown, Kentucky, is suspected of spray painting the words “Clean hands dirty $” on the landmark and filling a fountain with bubbles on Aug. 13. She was released after her initial court appearance on Aug. 17.
President Donald Trump posted about the monument’s damage on social media, linking it to his repeated statements — made without offering evidence — that vandals were damaging the nearby Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.
“Our beautiful World War II Memorial was just hit by Spray Painting Vandals,” Trump wrote his Truth Social site. “First the Reflecting Pool, now this.”
Authorities previously charged a former Olympian in late July with intentionally damaging the Reflecting Pool. However, the Justice Department subsequently moved to dismiss the charges, stating that evidence received by prosecutors refuted claims of vandalism.