Woman from Kentucky charged with defacing WW2 memorial

A woman from Kentucky has been accused of vandalizing the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C. 

The woman, identified as 41-year-old Melissa Farris of Elizabethtown, is accused of using spray paint to deface the wall of the Atlantic Theatre Pavilion at the memorial with the words “Clean Hands Dirty $,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Friday.

U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro said that her office was filing two felony charges against Farris. The offenses carry penalties of up to 10 years in prison.

“Vandalizing our World War II Memorial is a despicable attack on a sacred monument honoring the Americans who fought and died for our freedom. Those Americans include my father and grandfather,” Pirro wrote.

A woman identified on her Facebook page as Melissa Lovewell posted a video Thursday in which she is seen taking cans of orange spray paint from her bag and then painting the monument.

Green and pink paint were also applied to the monument, and the fountain was filled with foam.

The arrest warrant filed in the case indicated that witnesses took pictures of the vandalism occurring, which were circulated among U.S. Park Police officers.

When a park ranger arrived, he saw the woman filming video of herself, but she left when she realized the park ranger was there. “One U.S. Park Police officer recognized her as someone police had arrested on August 10 for unlawfully camping on federal property just a few blocks away from the World War II Memorial,” the release stated. 

She had livestreamed the arrest on her social media accounts, and when investigators reviewed the accounts, the release said they found livestreams from Thursday, including a video in which “she allegedly admitted to damaging the World War II Memorial. “

The incident sparked harsh rebukes from both Pirro and President Donald Trump and comes after the president blamed damage to the nearby Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool on vandals.

The Friends of the National World War II Memorial, a nonprofit organization that helps maintain the site, said: “There are many places in our country for expression, debate, and disagreement. A national memorial honoring those who served and those who never returned home should never be used as a canvas for vandalism.”

The Veterans of Foreign Wars called the vandalism “an act of profound disrespect, a slap in the face to the veterans who served and sacrificed and to the families who carried that burden at home.”


(Photo: U.S. Attorney's office)