Man charged in anti-McCain vandalism
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Daniel Marion Jackson, 23, faces 21 counts of misdemeanor destruction of property, police report.
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Keith Walker
Published: November 7, 2008
Police have charged a Gainesville man in connection with a rash of pre-election vandalism targeting the campaign of Republican candidate John McCain.
Daniel Marion Jackson, 23, of 13118 Bigleaf Maple Court, faces 21 counts of misdemeanor destruction of property, Prince William County police Officer Erika Hernandez said. He was arrested Wednesday.
Twelve houses, a church, seven businesses and a home owner’s association sign in Gainesville were spray painted with anti-McCain sentiments, profanity and the number 666 on Oct. 25.
Police said they identified Jackson during their investigation and he turned himself in. He is being held without bond and has a court date of Dec. 3.
The properties damaged include the Giant, Burger King, Target, DSW Shoes, Best Buy, Mimi’s Café and Shopper’s Food Warehouse in the Virginia Gateway area. Also hit was the United Pentecostal Church on Glenkirk Road, four houses in the 7700 block of Royal Sydney Drive, one house in the 14100 block of Clubhouse Road, one house in the 8100 block of Narrow Branch Court, two houses in the 8200 block of Tenbrook Drive, one house in the 14000 block of Sterling Pointe Drive, one house in the 7700 block of Virginia Oaks Drive, two houses in the 12000 block of Maiden Hair Drive and the Virginia Oaks Housing Association sign located in the 7500 block of Virginia Oaks Drive.
The police investigation showed that the vandalism did not rise to the definition of hate crime, Hernandez said.
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Posted by ( rosemary ) on November 12, 2008 at 4:35 pm
You actually think that PWC cops were going to the rally do WORK?? Come on, you all should know better than that. They arent here to make sure that we are safe. That would just be asking too much from them.
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Posted by ( raywilliams ) on November 08, 2008 at 9:35 am
“clearly indicating their disinterest in providing full protection to the Democratic candidate”
My guess is our local police were working inconjunction with the Secret Service, who know who to protect a candidate in large crowd situations.
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Posted by ( onewhoknows ) on November 08, 2008 at 1:58 am
One post says applauds Prince william county police chief Charlie dean. However, another interesting revelation in the attitudes of local authorities in Prince William/Manassas is evident from the perceived disinterest by police assigned to provide security at the Obama rally at the PW Fairgrounds on Monday night. Nearly 100,000 people congregated in an open area surrounding the potential next President and police did not check anyone entering the fairgrounds, people brought in all kinds of stuff, and police that could be seen inside the event were clustered together talking among themselves in detached settings, clearly indicating their disinterest in providing full protection to the Democratic candidate for President. My group was astounded by this. It was an eerie feeling.
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Posted by ( raywilliams ) on November 07, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Stealing campaign signs is a time-honored tradition in PWC.
There was one campaign back in the mid 1990’s where someone covered the word “VOTE” on a candidate’s signs with perfect letter-matching bumper stickers that said “DUMP”. All in fun.
Vandalism is destruction of or damage to property and further creates a sense of violation to the person or businesses victimized. Vandalism should not to be tolorated under any circumstances.
The level of damaged done to the homes and businesses goes beyond a “prank” and any person found guilty of this crime should be made an example of by the courts.
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Posted by ( do the right thing ) on November 07, 2008 at 4:20 pm
Hopefully, this individual will do some jail time and payback the cost to repair and remove all of the graffiti to the homeowners and businesses.
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Posted by ( tina ) on November 07, 2008 at 4:11 pm
You mean to tell me this guy at Twenty-Three years old had nothing better to do. The homeowners I know work too hard for this mess. Please! Get A JOB! I’m glad he got caught.
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Posted by ( khader1955 ) on November 07, 2008 at 3:14 pm
Prince william county is run by a great chief of police (Charlie dean). He will not tolerate his officers if they ignore any case. I am sure that if they get any leads about any of Obama’s signs destructions they will move on it right away and make the arrest.
Keep up the good work chief.
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Posted by ( jVA ) on November 07, 2008 at 3:11 pm
I don’t care to play the “Yeah, but McCain supporters did this” game. Nobody deserves to have their homes or businesses vandalized like this.
What an idiot this guy is.
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Posted by ( jwc50 ) on November 07, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Exactly right - taking down signs is NO comparison to spray painting profanities on private property. Glad he was caught.
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Posted by ( Posts as Pinko ) on November 07, 2008 at 1:22 pm
This isn’t just about signs. It’s about destruction of property.
I am curious to hear why this guy thinks it is okay to do this kind of thing.
Probably the McCain signs were an excuse. He would have done something similar anyway but just used a different justification for his actions.
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