| | | MAGA vandal done in by leaving pro-Trump sticker as calling card at crime scene (msn.com)
Story by Matthew Chapman • 2h ago
A Chicago-area Trump supporter has been arrested on charges of felony stalking, criminal damage to property, and hate crimes after a series of anti-LGBTQ vandalism against neighbors in which he foolishly left an incriminating sticker police used to track him down, reported Block Club Chicago.
A man wearing a red MAGA hat© Raw Story
The suspect has been identified as 62-year-old Thomas Howard.
"On six occasions between May and January, Howard vandalized a home near Bryn Mawr and Milwaukee avenues, prosecutors said in court last week. He cut up neighbor’s Pride flag twice; spray painted conservative, far-right slogans on their garage and left hateful messages on their property, prosecutors said, according to CBS2," reported Ariel Parrella-Aureli. "The homeowners declined to comment. They previously told Block Club the incidents were caught on their home cameras and were cause for concern, but they were not intimidated."
"In the middle of August, video captured a man on the porch as he left a banana with the words 'Impeach OBiden and Hack Harris' scribbled in Sharpie, the family previously said," the report continued, after which neighbors stepped up and helped undo the damage by putting up murals of LGBTQ affirmation on the property, with "Police officers, aldermanic candidates and even Mayor Lori Lightfoot express[ing] support for the family."
According to that report, the attacks ceased after media reports in October, until January, during which "Howard left a sticker of a cartoon President Donald Trump urinating on President Joe Biden’s name on the family’s newly painted mural" and "tagged the garage with disparaging language," according ot prosecutors. That proved to be his undoing; Chicago police identified the online seller of that sticker, and Howard was the only person in the area who had ordered one.
“I’ve taken ownership of what I’ve done, and I’m not proud of it,” Howard said in court.
Pro-Trump vandalism incidents have been taking place for years, since the former president's first campaign in 2016. In one highly-publicized incident, a Black church in Mississippi was torched, with the words "VOTE TRUMP" spray-painted on the side of the structure. |
|
