ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — A 24-year-old man was charged with property damage in connection with the vandalism of a Black history mural on Washington University's campus that school leaders called "despicable."
Mitchell Wagner was charged with first-degree property damage and issued a summons by St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell.
On Dec. 18, a mural that displayed the faces of prominent Black figures on the South 40 underpass on Washington University's campus was covered up with the name of a white supremacist group.
In a press release from Bell's office, Washington University police said security video caught a group of people vandalizing the mural before getting into a car and driving away. Police were able to read the license plate of the car and find that the car was owned by Wagner.
When officers went to Wagner's home, they said they saw the same car parked in front of the home. Wagner's employer also identified Wagner as one of the people seen in the security video.
First-degree property damage is a class-E felony punishable by up to four years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
Washington University police said the cost to repair the mural was estimated to be about $10,000.
"Property Damage 1st Degree is the appropriate criminal charge based on the statutes for this act of vandalism, though we know that defacing a mural honoring African Americans by tagging it with the name of a white supremacy group is supposed to send some kind of message," Bell said in the press release. "Let me send my own message: this region embraces our diversity, and that unifying spirit is vastly more powerful than hate spewed with spray paint cans."
