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Donald Zepeda, 35, of Maryland, and Jackson Green, 27, of Utah have been indicted after causing more than $50,000 of damage within the rotunda during a demonstration last month.
Specifically, Zepeda and Green are charged with felony destruction of government property for dumping a fine red powder over the document’s display case in the Rotunda of the Archives building.
"The cost of cleaning up after the stunt, which was intended to draw attention to Climate Change, has already exceeded $50,000," prosecutors said on Friday, March 1. "In addition, the act closed the Rotunda for four days."
This isn't the first time Green has been in trouble with the law in DC, having previously been accused of vandalism at the National Gallery of Art in November last year.
In that case, he was charged with one count of destruction of National Gallery of Art property, and he had been ordered to stay out of DC and away from all public monuments or museums in the District.
Green is being held in a DC jail for violating the conditions of his release in that instance. Both incidents were videotaped by supporters of Green and released online.
"The National Archives is aware of a video posted on social media depicting the incident in the National Archives Rotunda," federal officials wrote in a statement following the demonstration," officials said.
"Vandals intentionally spread a red powder that has been identified as pigment and cornstarch on and around the encasement that houses the Constitution of the United States."
When he was taken into custody on Wednesday, officials say that Zepeda was on his way to North Carolina to meet with another environmental protester.
“The National Archives Rotunda is the sanctuary for our nation’s founding documents. They are here for all Americans to view and understand the principles of our nation," Dr. Colleen Shogan, Archivist of the United States said.
"We take such vandalism very seriously and we will insist that the perpetrators be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
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