A man accused of destroying Donald Trump’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame with a pickax accepted a plea deal Wednesday.
Austin Clay, 24, pleaded no contest to felony vandalism for causing more than $400 in property damage, according to the Blast.
Clay was sentenced to three years of probation, one day in county jail and 20 days of community labor. He will also have to pay the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce $9,404.46 for damages to the star and $800 in fines.
Witnesses said they saw Clay visit Trump’s star during the early morning hours of July 25 and attack it using an ax he brought in a guitar case.
“He was just, like, it was his business to be tearing up the ground,” witness Patricia Cox told CBS 2 News, adding that she thought he was a construction worker. “I didn’t think much of it. It’s Hollywood.”
Los Angeles police Lt. Karen Leong told the Los Angeles Times that after Clay smashed Trump’s star, he “called police and advised he had vandalized Donald Trump’s star and basically called on himself and said, ‘See you soon.’”
After he was charged with felony vandalism, Clay defended his actions at a meeting of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce.
“I think it’s important to take a stand against those we believe are fraudulent,” Clay said. “I think the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce can really take a stand against him right now by removing his star.”
BuzzFeed noted that Trump’s Hollywood star attracts its share of vandals. In October 2016, a man dressed as a city construction worker smashed it with a sledgehammer and pickax.
Other Trump haters have defaced the star with dog poop, a backward swastika and a barbed wire wall around the star to mock Trump’s plan to build a wall on the Mexico border.
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