A pair of climate activists were indicted Thursday, accused of pouring red powder on the Constitution’s display case in the District of Columbia’s National Archives rotunda.
Donald Zepeda, 35, of Maryland and Jackson Green, 27, of Utah were charged with felony destruction of government property.
The staining came on Feb. 14, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
Cleanup efforts following the stunt cost more than $50,000, prosecutors said in their release Friday, and the rotunda was closed for four days.
No damage was done to the Constitution itself, the National Archives said in a release.
The two men are members of the Declare Emergency group, which said in a statement that the actions were “taken on Valentine’s Day out of love and respect for our fellow citizens whose constitutional rights to fresh air, clean water and healthy food are currently being stolen by our government’s great failure to tell the truth about the pending Earth’s climate system collapse.”
Mr. Zepeda and Mr. Green were involved in previous climate protests.
Mr. Zepeda was caught on video, uploaded to X by News2Share, being carried away after blocking traffic on the George Washington Memorial Parkway on Feb. 13.
Mr. Green was charged with vandalism at the National Gallery of Art on Nov. 14, prosecutors said. As a result, Judge Amy Berman Jackson of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered him to stay away from D.C. and all U.S. museums and public monuments, the USAO-DC said.
Authorities didn’t say what punishment or fine Mr. Zepeda and Mr. Green would face if found guilty of their latest defacement.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
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