A man who swiped the American flag from outside Gus J. Solomon U.S. Courthouse in downtown Portland and then set it on fire in front of the police bureau’s Central Precinct was sentenced Monday to one year of probation.
Jeffrey Richard Singer, 33, had pleaded guilty to theft of government property.
The theft occurred on Sept. 19, when Singer stole the flag and then marched with it in a crowd to Central Precinct during one of the nightly protests held in the city after the May 25 murder of George Floyd, a Black man who died when a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck for more than nine minutes, according to prosecutors.
U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown also ordered Singer to repay the government $218.50 in restitution for the destroyed flag.
“Stealing government property from outside a federal courthouse in Portland last fall was not the crime of the century, the decade or even the year,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Ratcliffe wrote to the court.
“But it was a crime, and the defendant deserves to be punished for it. His misdemeanor conviction and continuing supervision are adequate to account for the seriousness of his offense.’’
Federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations watched Singer commit the crimes and also break out several Starbucks windows with a baton, according to Ratcliffe.
Two weeks later, Singer charged at an officer who was trying to arrest him, injuring the officer’s thumb, revealing his “recurring role in the nightly violence in Portland last summer and fall,” Ratcliffe wrote in his sentencing memo.
Singer was indicted on Oct 20 and charged with theft of government property and civil disorder. He was arrested and spent 18 hours in custody before he was released with the conditions he abide by a curfew and obtain a full-time job.
Assistant Federal Public Defender Francesca Freccero, who represented Singer, argued for Singer not to face any curfew or home detention restrictions during his probation, noting that he had followed his pre-trial release conditions for the past eight months.
Freccero said Singer carried “strong and sincerely held views” and his offense occurred under “very tumultuous circumstances” when he was participating in a protest.
Jeffrey Richard Singer, 33, of Portland, is an active militant #antifa. He was arrested at the violent protest & charged w/felony assault of an officer, felony criminal mischief, escape & more. He was quickly released without bail. #PortlandMugshots https://t.co/juZopAcDGp pic.twitter.com/VwZmfNEKqE
— Andy Ngô (@MrAndyNgo) October 5, 2020
“You’re not being sentenced today for any beliefs that you have. You’re being sentenced today for this act of destroying the American flag,” the judge told Singer.
“It wasn’t your flag to burn. It belonged to the government and was something that was part of the marking of the Gus J. Solomon United States Courthouse that’s stood in our community for many years.”
As part of his probation, Singer was ordered to undergo a mental health assessment for potential anger management counseling.
The civil disorder charge was dismissed as part of the negotiated plea agreement.
Singer is the third defendant to be sentenced and one of four who pleaded guilty in federal court in a protest-related prosecution.
Of a total of 99 federal protest-related prosecutions in the past year, 50 were dismissed. Thirty-two cases are pending with trial dates scheduled. Fourteen others are nearing resolution, according to Kevin Sonoff, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The pending prosecutions include defendants charged with civil disorder, destruction of government property, arson and assault on a federal officer.
— Maxine Bernstein
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He should be exiled. He wants to flip off the country and then gets essentially a pass from the legal system. I say when you burn the flag, you burn your bridges. Too many people have gotten on the bandwagon to badmouth the country, but they sure enjoy the benefits of living here.
Hence all the illegal aliens and honest citizens from other countries who want to come here. People like this guy along with the illegals should be sent home and in this case a nice island in the pacific that hasn’t been used since H-bomb testing back in the 1950’s, should suffice.
AFTER he gets publicly STRIPPED OF HIS US Citizenship!!!
portland needs to be purged of everything liberal socialist with extreme predjudice.
Those BLM, antifa, and rainbow banners should all be issued as toilet paper . Let’s show freedom of speech!
Seems to me that Portland should be declared a toxic waste site like Chernobyl & everyone there be forced into indefinite quarantine until it is deemed safe.
Sorry I could give you but one TU.
SINCE the rioting last year started, i said WE NEED TO WALL THE ENTIRE city off, so it’s insanity cannot spread out like an indideous cancer.
Jeffrey Richard Singer and the rest of the antifa should be sent to North Korea, since antifa is Marxist and antifa hates our Country. Hey Singer, do you have a job or are you in your mother’s basement/
He’s probably a welfare leech.
If these worms hate this country so much, why don’t they move to some hell-hole where doing something like that will get them executed?
Here they can be paid to identify as LAZY!
BECAUSE they know, they wouldn’t be able to act like this IN MOST OF those other nations, NOR WILL those other nations, PAY THEM TO sit on their fat butts, while BAD MOUTHING the same nation, who pays them.
“But it was a crime, and the defendant deserves to be punished for it. His misdemeanor conviction and continuing supervision are adequate to account for the seriousness of his offense.’’
B.S.!
Not even a fine equal to ten m.p.h. over the speed limit?
He didn’t even have to pay for the stolen flag!!!! Pity the judge wasn’t woke enough to provide cab fare for the goon.
Portland, you deserve what you elected. The corruption and ugliness of the state government has overtaken the natural beauty of the area.
If you read the article, YES HE DID have to pay for a new flag.
BUT I STILL THINK That a mere year of probation for THEFT, and arson, is merely a slap on the wrist.
Excuse me but I see a clear case of theft of Federal property, destruction of Federal property, and desecration of our flag. Now it would seem that the latter is not a crime any more, but the first two were actually both committed against the Federal government and should have been prosecuted as such.
THIS IS why for years, i said the scotus SCREWED UP BIG TIME, when they ruled burning the flag was “protected free expression”.