WASHINGTON – A Kentucky woman who authorities say filmed herself spray-painting the World War II Memorial and filling part of its fountain with foam was arrested Friday and charged with two federal felonies, according to court records.
Melissa L. Farris of Elizabethtown, Ky., was charged with depredation against property of the United States and destruction of a veterans’ memorial, a day after visitors to the National Mall discovered brightly colored graffiti across portions of the memorial’s Atlantic pavilion and thick foam spilling through its fountain.
The vandalism prompted condemnation from President Donald Trump and veterans groups and briefly closed portions of one of Washington’s most visited war memorials.
“Our beautiful World War II Memorial was just hit by Spray Painting Vandals,” Trump wrote Friday on Truth Social. “THERE CAN BE NO GREATER INSULT TO THOSE AMERICAN HEROES WHO DIED IN WORLD WAR II.”
The Veterans of Foreign Wars also condemned the damage and said it supported “the swift investigation and prosecution of those responsible,” urging anyone with information about the incident to contact law enforcement.
According to a criminal complaint filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Washington, U.S. Park Police and Park Rangers were called to the memorial about 2 p.m. Thursday for a report of a disorderly person disrupting visitors. A witness told investigators that a woman was spray-painting the Atlantic pavilion.
A ranger approaching the pavilion saw foam in the fountain and found several visitors watching a woman videotaping herself from a balcony, according to the complaint. Authorities said the woman fled after noticing the ranger.
A witness photographed the woman holding a spray-paint can as yellow paint streamed from it onto the memorial, according to investigators. Photographs included in the court filing show extensive red, pink and green paint covering the curved granite balcony and surrounding pavement.
Investigators said the words “Clean Hands Dirty $” had been painted across a wall, while additional paint had been sprayed beneath it and near the inscription marking the years 1941-1945.
Police quickly identified the suspect after circulating the witness’s photograph internally. A Park Police officer recognized her as Farris, who had been arrested three days earlier, on Aug. 10, for unlawfully camping on federal property near 18th Street and Virginia Avenue NW, several blocks from the memorial. During that arrest, authorities said, Farris livestreamed her encounter with police on social media.
Farris appears to have been living an itinerant life in Washington. Her public Facebook profile, reproduced in the criminal complaint, listed her location as Washington and described her as a “Pirate Captain, panhandling America for America,” while asking followers for money. The filing does not specify where she had been staying or formally describe her as homeless.
Her public social-media accounts also provide an unusual window into the hours surrounding the vandalism.
Investigators said Farris livestreamed repeatedly before and after the incident and appeared to acknowledge what she intended to do. In one video posted before the vandalism, she said she was making deliberate choices in an effort to force what she described as a “whistleblower case” into court.
“I am accountable for my actions,” she said in the video, according to the complaint, adding that she intended to “wait to be arrested.”
Her social-media posts before and after the incident contain a series of rambling and at times difficult-to-follow statements about the government, accountability and her desire to bring attention to her case. The court filing does not say whether Farris has been diagnosed with a mental illness, and her behavior and posts alone are not sufficient to establish one.
In another video, authorities said, Farris showed the memorial’s fountain filled with foam and the vestibule covered in paint. Later Thursday afternoon, she appeared surprised that she had not yet been arrested.
“Why the fuck didn’t I get arrested?” she said in a video posted at 3:58 p.m., according to the complaint. Later in the recording, she added: “I was just allowed to deface Federal fucking property, and nobody batted an eye, and that is very strange.”
The videos, combined with the witness photograph and Farris’s previous encounter with Park Police, formed much of the evidence investigators used to identify her, according to the complaint.
The National Park Service and contractors began cleaning the memorial after the vandalism was discovered. Authorities estimated the cost of cleaning and restoration at more than $1,000.
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro announced Farris’s arrest Friday, calling the vandalism “a despicable attack on a sacred monument honoring the Americans who fought and died for our freedom.” Pirro said her father and grandfather were among the Americans who served.
The charges can carry significant prison sentences if Farris is convicted. She made an initial appearance Friday in federal court in Alexandria, and federal prosecutors are seeking to keep her detained pending further proceedings.
By Friday, the World War II Memorial had been cleaned and reopened to visitors.
