An Ohio boyfriend probably thought he was being super-romantic when he spray-painted a proposal to his girl on a shopping-center wall. Cops, however, thought he was breaking the law.
Kyle Stump, 23, painted: “Michelle Marry Me. I Love You” (with a heart) in huge red letters on the side of a building in the city-owned mall at Lake Sheffield. His proposal consumed 30 feet of wall space.
Disappointingly, love-of-his-life Michelle Astorino, 21, failed to notice the proposal until Stump took her to the building one night with a flashlight to point it out to her, the determined beau told “Inside Edition.”
He got a “yes” — and a criminal mischief charge from police. Investigators tracked Stump based on a tip and matched the handwriting on the graffiti to a form Stump had filled out in 2012.
Stump pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief earlier this week. He was sentenced to 60 days in jail and fined $500, but the magistrate suspended the jail term and all but $200 of the fine. Stump also will have to pay $332 to sandblast his proposal, and will have to perform 80 hours of community service. He’ll likely spend it painting town fire hydrants, the Chronicle-Telegram reported.
“One of the things I told him was that I may be old-fashioned and I prefer a more traditional way of proposing with getting down on one knee with the ring,” Magistrate Kreig Brusnahan told the newspaper.
“They don’t have to be so hard on me,” Stump complained.
He said he and his fiancee are trying to stay focused on the positive. But the legal setback means he’ll have to buy an engagement ring on an installment plan.
“We’ve basically just brushed it off and are excited about our engagement,” Astorino told “Inside Edition.” “It’s still a crime, we understand that, but, I mean, it’s not that serious.”