Grand Jury Indicts Former Olympian For Allegedly Tampering With Reflecting Pool

A Washington, D.C. Superior Court grand jury has indicted former Olympian David Hearn on a second-degree felony charge of “Destruction of property $1,000 or more.”

Hearn “ripped a piece of recently installed sealant,” Jeanine Pirro, U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a press conference Thursday announcing the indictment. “[Hearn] willfully destroyed property at the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool.”

Pirro stated that National Park Service (NPS) employees who were on scene claim to have observed Hearn reaching and pulling up the liner with both hands. Pirro alleges that Hearn caused damage to at least two square feet of the Reflecting Pool, citing the multi-million-dollar cost of the recent renovations to the pool to explain the charge being filed for damages of $1,000 or more.

Pirro also stated that NPS employees allege that Hearn was told not to reach into the pool, and allegedly shouted back, “It’s not your pool,” and “Why do you care so much?”

Hearn, a three-time Olympic canoeist, was first arrested on June 19 in front of the Lincoln Memorial and was charged with the “misdemeanor offense of destruction of government property,” Mediate reported.

U.S. Olympic canoeist David “Davey” Hearn has been indicted on a single count of destruction of property following his arrest last month at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. https://t.co/SRnWlcmTqF

— NBC News (@NBCNews) July 2, 2026

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