The West Hartford man who police said wrote profane and threatening anti-Trump graffiti at Morley Elementary School on June 15 has been ordered to stay off the property.
Hartford Community Court judge Tammy Geathers said Wednesday that Steven Marks, 32, is to stay off the Bretton Road school property and continued his case to Aug. 2.
Prosecutor Tom O'Brien said Marks has a clean record but asked the judge to continue the case so he could reach out to the Town of West Hartford and discuss restitution for the graffiti. He said Marks has arranged to meet with a social worker in West Hartford as well.
West Hartford Police on June 19 released a 28-second surveillance video clip showing a bald, white man wearing a dark blue Boston Red Sox t-shirt with khaki shorts riding a bicycle onto the Morley playground accompanied by a white and brown dog, identifying the man as the suspect. In the video clip, the suspect appears to write something on a sign located on the playground. The video was time stamped at about 10:30 p.m. on June 15.
Marks told police on June 19 he vandalized the property "out of 'anger towards liberals and they are breaking major laws everyday and being disrespectful towards our government,'" according to the warrant for his arrest. He told police it was his hope that the vandalism would appear to have been done by the "Left."
In the arrest warrant, West Hartford Police Officer Dante Ursini said Morley Elementary School Principal Ryan Cleary on June 16 said "students informed him that there were 'swear' words written on the playground equipment."
Some of the writings said "Kill Trump," "Left is the best," "Bernie Sanders 2020" and "Death to Trump" and were written on the playground welcome sign, a tan piece of of playground equipment, a yellow concrete barrier pole, a playground bench and on a "Little Free Library" located on the playground.
Marks saw his photo in the news, called the police and later turned himself in on a warrant that charged him with third-degree criminal mischief and breach of peace, police said. He posted $500 bail. Police said when they went to his home to take his statement, he was compliant and respectful.
Marks told police he was at the school to play catch with his dog and that he found a green Sharpie marker on the school grounds. He told police when he found the marker, he "'had the dumb idea to vandalize the school with what would seem to be liberal hate speech.'"
Marks told police he would "never harm the president or any member of government and understood it was 'stupid' and 'illegal.'"
He said after vandalizing the property he threw the marker in a bush at the corner of Fern Street and North Quaker Lane and on his way home thought it was a "'very stupid idea' and thought he should have gone back to clean it up, which he never did." Police later found the marker in a bush on the southwest side of Fern Street and Auburn Road and said his statement was off by one block.
Police reviewed two of Marks' Facebook accounts, his home, garage, vehicle and cell phone and found nothing of concern.
In an interview with The Courant last week, he said he was sorry, that his actions were "stupid," and that he supports President Donald Trump and refused to explain why he would write anti-Trump graffiti.
"It was just a stupid thing I did at the time," Marks told The Courant last week. "It was stupid, stupid, stupid."
He declined to comment after his community court appearance on Wednesday.