{"id":868,"date":"2026-07-03T04:15:54","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T04:15:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=868"},"modified":"2026-07-03T04:15:54","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T04:15:54","slug":"grand-jury-indicts-former-olympian-over-reflecting-pool-damage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=868","title":{"rendered":"Grand Jury Indicts Former Olympian Over Reflecting Pool Damage"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<p>A federal grand jury indicted former Olympian David Hearn on Thursday on a felony charge of destruction of property in connection to <span><u>his arrest last month<\/u><\/span> at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro announced.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=866\">Tucker Carlson Is Starting a Third Party. Those Who\u2019ve Tried Say: Good Luck!<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Pirro alleged Hearn used his bare hands to \u201cforcefully and violently\u201d pull up and remove about 2 square feet of sealant from the bottom of the Reflecting Pool on June 19. An employee from the National Park Service then instructed Hearn to \u201cstop his behavior and stop what he was doing,\u201d Pirro said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHearn reacted by shouting at the parks employee, saying that she cared too much about the Reflecting Pool, and why did she even care since it wasn\u2019t her pool,\u201d Pirro said. \u201cMr. Hearn\u2019s behavior was characterized by witnesses as belligerent, rude and disrespectful.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>If found guilty, Hearn faces up to 10 years in prison.<\/p>\n<p>His lawyers Norm Eisen, the cofounder of Democracy Defenders Fund, and Mary Dohrmann, a senior counsel at Washington Litigation Group, defended Hearn\u2019s innocence in a statement Thursday.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese charges are outrageous and should be alarming to every American,\u201d the statement read. \u201cThis indictment reflects the administration\u2019s effort to shift blame for their own failures. On the eve of our nation\u2019s Independence Day, Americans should be deeply concerned by the misuse of government power against an ordinary citizen based on a concocted narrative. The justice system exists to determine facts, not to provide political cover.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=864\">Puerto Rico Is Still Waiting on Billions in Aid Nine Years After Hurricane Maria<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Hearn is one of at least seven people to be arrested at the Reflecting Pool for <span><u>alleged destruction<\/u><\/span> of property and vandalism, according to <span><u>the White House<\/u><\/span>. President Donald Trump had ordered a renovation of the iconic pool ahead of America\u2019s 250th anniversary. Algae blooms began appearing shortly after the nearly $15 million work was completed and blue material surfaced at the pool, likely from the coating Trump wanted to be painted \u201cAmerican flag blue.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Trump has amplified various claims of vandalism since June, including an accusation that vandals used a knife to leave a long gash in the pool; he has described the gash at various times as 250 feet, 300 feet and 350 feet long.<\/p>\n<p>Hearn, who lives in Bethesda, Maryland, has maintained his innocence since his arrest on June 19. He told <span><u>NBC News<\/u><\/span> in June that he went to the Reflecting Pool after a bike ride \u201cto satisfy my curiosity as a citizen of what was happening with all the algae and the peeling blue coating.\u201d He said he only touched the paint.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was kind of stiff, stiff, but flexible, pretty rubbery. Didn\u2019t feel brittle in any way,\u201d Hearn said. \u201cI didn\u2019t remove, tear, rip, break or destroy any of it. The condition of the Reflecting Pool was the same after I stepped away from the water as it was before I got there.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=862\">Former Agriculture Officials Say the Trump Administration Missed Screwworm Warnings<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Hearn, who says he only touched the pool\u2019s floating paint, faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-868","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Grand Jury Indicts Former Olympian Over Reflecting Pool Damage - Modern Home Journals<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=868\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Grand Jury Indicts Former Olympian Over Reflecting Pool Damage - Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"David Hearn, who says he only touched the pool\u2019s floating paint, faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/modernhomejournals.com\/?p=868\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Modern Home Journals\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-03T04:15:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=868#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=868\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"headline\":\"Grand Jury Indicts Former Olympian Over Reflecting Pool Damage\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-03T04:15:54+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=868\"},\"wordCount\":526,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=868#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/c89839ca0c3a1d2341b6fe7e5f15f993-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"U.S. News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=868#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=868\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=868\",\"name\":\"Grand Jury Indicts Former Olympian Over Reflecting Pool Damage - Modern Home Journals\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=868#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=868#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/c89839ca0c3a1d2341b6fe7e5f15f993-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-03T04:15:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/533de239efc09a2ab59959cc1bff86d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=868#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=868\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/?p=868#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/c89839ca0c3a1d2341b6fe7e5f15f993-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/modernhomejournals.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/c89839ca0c3a1d2341b6fe7e5f15f993-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1706,\"caption\":\"The Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool is seen Wednesday, July 1, 2026, in Washington. 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