PORT TOWNSEND — A 25-year-old man was arrested after police said he admitted to burning a stolen U.S. flag near a wooden post and a van.
Homer McFadden, 25, of Port Townsend was charged with theft, malicious mischief and reckless burning after incidents in the Safeway parking lot at 1:40 a.m. and in the 400 block of W Street less than an hour later Thursday.
McFadden was released on $1,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Jefferson County District Court on Aug. 15.
According to Port Townsend police reports, three men entered the Safeway at 442 Sims Way, stole an American flag and took it out to the parking lot, where they set it on fire and threw it on the ground.
Officers said the burning flag posed a significant hazard since it was in proximity to a wooden post and a van in which two people were living.
Officers watched surveillance video and could not identify the men aside from their clothing.
Police were later dispatched to a fireworks complaint at McFadden’s home from a caller who reported hearing what sounded like gunshots.
Officers said they found outside the house a bag of illegal fireworks estimated at more than 4 pounds as well as a few that had been set off.
Officers Ryan Smith and Patrick Fudally knocked on the door and met McFadden, who was wearing a blue shirt and a white baseball cap, turned backward, according to the report.
The officers said this matched the appearance of a man in the video burning the flag.
Smith said McFadden said he had set the flag on fire in the parking lot and admitted to theft, malicious mischief and reckless burning.
McFadden was arrested on those charges and was taken to the Jefferson County jail.
The fireworks were confiscated, according to the report.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.