Amanda Hari reports on Yggdrasil Urban Wildlife Rescue.

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DENVER (KDVR) — The Adams County Veterans Memorial, a place built for quiet reflection, was left damaged and vandalized just hours after residents gathered to celebrate Veterans Day.

County leaders say they’re frustrated, and crews are once again being forced to repair a monument that’s been targeted repeatedly since it opened.

The Adams County Veterans Memorial, designed to resemble the World War II battleship USS Colorado, had been covered in flowers earlier this month for Veterans Day.

“We do a great event every Veterans Day,” said Byron Fanning, Adams County’s director of Parks, Open Space and Cultural Arts. “You can take a flower and place it at our remembrance wall in honor of somebody that you want to honor that’s important to your life.”

The morning after the holiday, Fanning said he discovered graffiti on the sidewalk, and a park bench soaked in paint. There was also damage to the plumbing system, which now needs to be pumped out.

“It really hurt my heart,” Fanning said.

Fanning described the graffiti as “gibberish” but said photos of it have been blurred while the sheriff’s office investigates.

Most of the cleanup work is already done. Crews removed graffiti that had been sprayed across the walkway and took out a bench for repairs after someone dumped a bucket of paint on it.

And it’s nothing crews aren’t used to. Fanning say this is the tenth time the memorial has been vandalized since it opened in 2023.

“Some of them are small, just a little graffiti on the railings or on some of the structures behind me,” Fanning said. “But some of them have been rather extensive.”

Hoping to protect the memorial as a place to honor those who served, Fanning offered a simple plea to the public.

“Please stop,” he said. “Please show some respect for who this was built to honor, and for those veterans that mean so much to our community. You’re disrespecting them, and it’s not okay.”

Officials estimate the latest cleanup cost about $3,000. The county is working to install security cameras, and the sheriff’s office is increasing nighttime patrols in hopes of preventing future vandalism.

The county is also asking visitors to report any vandalism to law enforcement.

POINT LOMA, Calif. (FOX 5/KUSI) — A woman from Point Loma pleaded guilty in federal court last Thursday, admitting she embezzled more than $8.5 million from her employer and spent a portion of the stolen funds on luxuries and high-end fashion.

According to a press release from the Department of Justice, Ping “Jenny” Gao, 55, embezzled the funds from her employer by draining four bank accounts belonging to his U.S. companies.

In her plea agreement, Goa admitted to funneling company funds into fraudulent accounts she created. She reportedly used the stolen funds on lavish shopping sprees at high-end fashion retailers and also purchased a $160,000 Porsche and a $2.9 million home overlooking San Diego Bay.

When the employer discovered the stolen funds, he attempted to sue Gao in San Diego Superior Court, during which she falsely claimed that the person suing her was an imposter and that the real owner of the company in China authorized her actions.

To support her false defense, Gao reportedly paid more than $100,000 to people in China to help fabricate evidence, and she also committed perjury at her deposition by claiming the funds in the companies’ bank accounts belonged to her, according to the report.

While the Superior Court issued orders barring Gao from further spending, transferring,
or dissipating the funds during the pendency of the civil case, she reportedly disregarded the orders and wired $1.6 million to a bank account in Hong Kong.

In 2023, the civil case went to trial with Gao testifying in her own defense. In her defense, she falsely claimed a manager from one of the companies was helping her move the funds to the U.S. by using “underground banks” to avoid Chinese overseas transfer laws.

The court ruled against Gao and turned the preliminary injunction into a permanent one.

However, Gao violated the court order and continued to spend the funds, which reportedly included selling the Porsche to CarMax for $75,000 and exchanging a $70,000 cashier’s check for cash.

To date, more than $3.9 million of the embezzled funds have been either squandered or remain unaccounted.

Gao’s summary of charges includes Wire Fraud, which carries a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison, and Concealment Money Laundering, which carries a maximum penalty of 20 years and fines of $500,000 or more.