A 17-year-old boy is responsible for recently spraying red paint all over Plymouth Rock and several other sites in the historic Massachusetts community, police said.
The teen faces 11 felony counts of vandalism and one misdemeanor count of trespassing, Plymouth Police Chief Michael Botieri said in a statement.
The suspect’s name was not released because he is a juvenile, but the chief said he is a resident of the town. The rock symbolizes the spot where the Mayflower Pilgrims disembarked in December 1620.
The suspect was identified by detectives who reviewed hours of surveillance video from the area, the chief said.
»MORE: Organizations to mark 400th anniversary of Mayflower landing
In addition to Plymouth Rock, the National Monument to the Forefathers and the Plymouth Maiden statue were found defaced Feb. 17.
Most of the places were defaced with the number and letter combination 508 MOF. Botieri told The Patriot Ledger the boy offered no explanation for what was written. The vandalism has since been cleaned up.
The Feb. 17 vandalism is not connected to vandalism to the town’s 9/11 Memorial discovered last Sunday, the chief said.
Plymouth Rock, the Pilgrim Maiden statue, a memorial granite bench and at least four of the Scallop Roll statues around the waterfront by the Plymouth Area Chamber of Commerce were tagged with paint, Botieri told USA Today.
Maintenance crews removed the graffiti with power washers and a solvent used to clean previous vandalism, according to USA Today.
Plymouth is preparing to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the Pilgrims arriving on the Mayflower in 1620.
Rich Barak of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution contributed to this report.
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