BENTONVILLE, Ark. — In September 2019, after eating dinner with friends at a restaurant on the Bentonville Square and discussing the statue, Jeremy Ordaz and Laura Hammarstrom, 45, of Bentonville returned later to tear it down, an affidavit stated.
A police officer at the Bentonville Square saw a crowd gathered in the area and a man flagged the officer down, according to the affidavit. The officer said he saw a man with a bandanna over his face leaving the area, and Hammarstrom was standing on a pedestal near the statue.
The affidavit states that Hammarstrom told the officer she was trying to tear down the statue, and that she had been trying to do so for the last five years.
Police were told that Ordaz climbed on the statue and broke the rifle with a hammer, according to the affidavit.
The United Daughter's of the Confederacy owns the statue and claim Ordaz and Hammarstrom did $12,000 to $16,000 worth of damage to the monument, according to the affidavit.
The pair were later arrested on Nov. 15, 2019, for 1st Degree Criminal Mischief.
On Tuesday, Sept. 16, 2020, Ordaz plead guilty to criminal mischief charges, and a plea agreement requires him to spend one year on state supervised probation, do 190 hours of community service and pay $8,000 immediately.
Hammarstrom's charges were resolved through a diversion agreement. The agreement requires her to not commit any criminal acts for six months and pay $8,000 by Dec. 15.
The statue, which depicts an unnamed Confederate soldier holding a rifle, had been on the Bentonville Square since 1908. On Sep. 2, 2020, the statue was removed and will be moved to a private park in the area.