Melissa L. Farris, 41, of Elizabethtown, Kentucky, spray-painted "Clean hands dirty $" in red across the World War II Memorial on the National Mall Thursday afternoon. Then she dumped bubble soap into the fountain. Then — and this is where it gets special — she went on Facebook Live to talk about it.
"It's me," Farris said in the video. "I am going to turn myself in … I'm outside district federal court."
So at least the investigation was easy.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro filed two federal felony charges against Farris: Depredation Against Property of the United States and Destruction of Veterans' Memorials. Each count carries up to 10 years in federal prison. Cleanup and restoration costs exceeded $1,000, according to the criminal complaint. Investigators used Farris's own social media activity — posted under the name Melissa Lovewell on Facebook — to build the case, including footage she filmed near the memorial acknowledging she had "damaged" the fountain.
Pirro said, "Vandalizing our World War II Memorial is a despicable attack on a sacred monument honoring the Americans who fought and died for our freedom," she said.
President Trump weighed in on Truth Social: "Our beautiful World War II Memorial was just hit by Spray Painting Vandals." He followed up in all caps — as one does — adding, "THERE CAN BE NO GREATER INSULT TO THOSE AMERICAN HEROES WHO DIED."
Farris, for her part, offered this explanation in the Facebook video: "I am just trying to do the right thing … I tried to reach the media, I tried to fight back." She also described living in a "paper-thin camper" that she "boarded up with cardboard in the winter." Which is not an explanation for defacing a monument to the 400,000 Americans who never came home from World War II.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars called the act "a slap in the face" to veterans and their families. Friends of the National World War II Memorial issued a statement noting that "national memorials should never be used as a canvas for vandalism," adding there are "many places for expression and debate."
This isn't the first time a D.C. memorial has been hit this year. A former Olympian was accused of damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Back in June, the numbers "8647" were burned into the ground near the Washington Monument. There seems to be a growing category of people who think national monuments exist as props for whatever personal grievance they're carrying around that week.
Twenty years in federal prison is on the table. Two felony counts, each comes with up to ten years in prison.
The memorial has already been cleaned and reopened as of Friday.
The monument was built to last. The graffiti wasn't.