A Boise man landed in the Ada County Jail this week after federal investigators saw a YouTube video showing someone spray-painting the James A. McClure Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Boise, according to prosecutors and court documents.
Charles Arthur Stark, 42, was arraigned Friday on a charge of misdemeanor willful injury to government property. He faces up to a year in prison, a fine of up to $100,000 and restitution.
A trial is set for March 5.
Stark, originally from Washington state, has stayed at a local homeless shelter and, more recently, at the Occupy Boise encampment at 6th and Jefferson streets.
Stark spray painted the phrases “FU 1867 I’m not a terrorist” and “FU 1867 NDAA I’m not a terrorist” on windows at the federal building late Monday night, according to a criminal complaint filed by Deano L. Rocca, law enforcement security officer for the Department of Homeland Security, Federal Protective Service.
Stark recruited a local videographer to document the vandalism, the criminal complaint says.
Damage is estimated at $750.
The vandalism was reported by a security guard at 11:45 p.m. Monday. Boise police on Tuesday notified federal investigators about a YouTube video that showed the crime in progress.
Investigators identified the videographer as Mark Reinhardt.
Reinhardt told investigators he followed a man named “Art” to the Occupy encampment, where he saw the man obtain cans of spray paint, according to court documents. Investigators questioned Occupy Boise member Dean Gunderson about whether the incident was planned or sanctioned by the local group.
“This wasn’t anything that had been discussed at any meeting I am aware of,” Gunderson told the Idaho Statesman.
Gunderson agreed to help investigators find the man, later identified as Stark. Stark was at the Canyon County Jail, where he had been taken after a friend was arrested on suspicion of DUI, Gunderson said. He said police determined that Stark was wanted in Ada County for failure to appear in court.
Stark confessed to spray painting the federal building, as well as a nearby state office building, according to the criminal complaint.
Dara Barney: 377-6253. Reporter Katy Moeller contributed to this story.
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