WASHINGTON — David Hearn was indicted on a single felony count of destruction of property in D.C. Superior Court on July 2, 2026. He is accused of causing more than $1,000 worth of damage to the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, said that National Park Service employees observed Hearn on June 19 pulling up and removing the bottom liner of the pool with both hands. Pirro alleged that Hearn damaged about two square feet of the sealant from the bottom of the pool. Pirro said federal authorities did not believe Hearn used any tool, indicating he used his bare hands.

Pirro indicated that a parks employee told Hearn to stop his activity. "A parks employee actually told Hearn to stop, to stop his behavior and stop what he was doing," Pirro said. "Hearn 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't her pool."

Norm Eisen, co-founder and executive chair of Democracy Defenders Fund, and Mary Dohrmann, Senior Counsel at Washington Litigation Group, issued a statement on behalf of Hearn, refuting the charges. "Davey Hearn is innocent," Eisen said. "These charges are outrageous and should be alarming to every American." Eisen added, "This indictment reflects the administration's effort to shift blame for their own failures."

Hearn, a U.S. Olympic canoeist who competed in the Summer Olympics in 1992, 1996, and 2000, stated he did not vandalize anything. "I didn't vandalize anything," Hearn said. "I didn't destroy or break or peel anything." He stated he was arrested and detained for five hours and that he touched a piece of detached coating in the pool while on a bike ride.

Pirro said Hearn faces a potential sentence of 10 years in prison if convicted. The indictment follows a recent rehabilitation project on the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, which cost more than $14 million this spring and included the addition of a new liner and coating.