A 27-year-old man from Stafford, Virginia, has been arrested and charged with vandalizing a historic Iwo Jima statue in Quantico.
What happened
Police responded to an incident at the monument, located near Marine Corps Base Quantico, and found the suspect, Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano, using a sledgehammer to damage the structure. The officers detained him and later discovered that one of the soldiers' heads had been removed, resulting in extensive destruction estimated to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Maldonado Soriano has been charged with felony destruction of property, trespass with intent to damage property, and felony injury to a monument. He is being held without bond, and his court date is pending.
The Iwo Jima statue, carved out of limestone by Felix de Weldon in 1945, is a significant monument that stands near the entrance to Marine Base Quantico and the National Museum of the Marine Corps.
