Steven Marks may be a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, but police say the 32-year-old is the one responsible for a slew of anti-Trump graffiti written all over a school playground.
The reason, police say — he wanted to frame liberals.
The Connecticut man has been arrested for writing profane and threatening words on the playground at Morley Elementary School last month, the Hartford Courant reported. The incident happened on June 15, and four days later, police released 28 seconds of surveillance footage showing a bald white man with a Boston Red Sox shirt and khaki shorts writing something on the playground, the report noted.
The graffiti included the words “Kill Trump” and “Bernie Sanders 2020,” the report noted. The words “Death to Trump” were also written on various parts of the playground including a “Little Free Library” book exchange, the report noted.
Marks saw his picture on television and turned himself in the same day, Fox 61 reported. He reportedly told police that he wrote the anti-Trump graffiti “out of anger towards liberals and they are breaking major laws everyday and being disrespectful towards our government.” Marks told police that he hoped the graffiti would be blamed on “the left,” police documents obtained by the Hartford Courant showed.
This is not the first time that there has been a fake incident meant to target political opponents, and the incidents have come from both sides. Back in November, a student at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette claimed she was attacked by two men who robbed her and ripped off her hijab, with one of the men wearing a Donald Trump hat.
The woman reported the incident just hours after Donald Trump’s presidential victory, a time when tensions were high and protests against his win already beginning. The alleged attack gained national attention amid a spate of other incidents including racially charged graffiti in other areas. But after police in Louisiana were unable to find any witnesses or video of the incident, investigators said the woman admitted she lied about the attack, KATC reported.
In another case, an African-American man was arrested for torching a black church in Mississippi and writing the words “VOTE TRUMP” in spray paint.
Try, African-American burned church in Mississippi wrote “VOTE TRUMP” graffiti. FAKE HATE https://t.co/D3HAKm2iN5
— Chance (@TheSlimChance) December 22, 2016
Steven Marks told police that he had no intention of hurting President Donald Trump and admitted what he did was “stupid” and “illegal,” the Hartford Courant reported. Prosecutors are reportedly working out a deal for restitution toward cleaning the graffiti.
[Featured Image by West Hartford Police Department]
