Deputies with the Washington County Sheriff's Department have arrested one suspect in this week's spray paint desecration of Holy Hill and are seeking at least one other suspect, Sheriff Brian Rahn said this morning.
A 21-year-old Dodge County man was arrested on suspicion of being party to a crime after deputies stopped the vehicle he was driving on Station Way Drive, on the grounds of the National Shrine of Mary, Help of Christians, around 8:30 p.m. Wednesday. There were five passengers in the vehicle.
"They had come back to look at it," Rahn said in reference to the graffiti spray painted on numerous statues along the Stations of the Cross and on the Monastery and main church.
The department might seek additional charges against the man later today, Rahn said.
After deputies questioned occupants of the vehicle and began checking driver license histories, a 17-year-old male resident of the Hartford area ran from the vehicle. Deputies are seeking that man but he was not in custody as of 9 a.m. today.
Vandals desecrated more than a dozen sites throughout the property. No estimate of the cost of removing the paint was available.