An Elizabethtown woman faces federal charges after allegedly vandalizing a memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C.
Melissa Farris, also known as Melissa Lovewell, is charged with Willfully Injuring or Committing a Depredation against Property of the United States and Destruction of a Veterans’ Memorial.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, Farris was charged by criminal complaint Friday after allegedly vandalizing the Atlantic Theatre Pavilion of the World War II Memorial Thursday.
The criminal complaint states that U.S. Park Police responded to the memorial on August 13 for a report of a disorderly person. A witness told police they saw a woman spray painting graffiti on the memorial. A U.S. Park Ranger arrived on scene and observed foam in the fountain area of the pavilion, and saw multiple people watching the woman as she recorded video of herself before fleeing when she saw the park ranger.
A U.S. Park Police officer recognized Farris in a photo taken by a witness as Farris had been arrested on August 10 for unlawfully camping on federal property a few blocks from the memorial. Officers found that Farris had live streamed her August 10 arrest on social media, and had recorded multiple live stream videos on August 13, in one of which she allegedly admitted to the World War II Memorial vandalism.
Farris is expected to appear for a preliminary hearing in D.C. court Monday.
