A billboard honoring President Donald Trump along Interstate 95 in Sussex County, Virginia, was defaced with blood red paint and a life-size hanging effigy of the president over the weekend.
The sign, which read “God Bless President Trump,” was covered in paint, and a sign on the effigy hanging directly below it read, in part, “kill all rapist pedophiles.”
The billboard owner, Chester Carter, placed the giant sign on his land in 2020.
“I’ve had people from Maine to Florida stop on 95, go to the fence, take pictures and text it to my phone,” Carter told local station WTVR.
On Sunday, Carter received a call from a relative saying that the billboard had been vandalized.
“I was about a mile away and I come by here and I say, ‘Oh my god, somebody has hung an effigy up of the president and a political message,’” Carter told the station.
A previous display that Carter had put on the side of a box truck in 2019 was also targeted by the vandal or vandals.
This is not the first time that leftists have messed with Carter’s sign.
“Since the election last year, a lot of people would stop and tear the American flags down. We had American flags on posts in the ground, people would stop and vandalize the flags,” Carter said.
Carter believes that the latest vandalism is a hate crime.
“They have no right to go on my land exercising their freedom of speech. Do it in the highway, right, but they can’t do that,” Carter asserted. “This is not just child’s play. This is serious consequences.”
WATCH:
WTVR reports:
The Sussex County Sheriff told CBS 6 the person responsible would likely face charges of misdemeanor vandalism and a Class 6 felony for displaying a noose with the intent to intimidate.
Carter estimated the damage to be around $5,000.
Carter told CBS 6 that a monetary reward of at least $2,000 is being offered for information that leads to finding the people responsible.
If you have any information about this crime, you’re asked to call the Sussex County Sheriff’s tip line at 434-597-4400.
Authorities have not yet announced any suspects or leads in the case.
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