Pair arrested after McCain sign torched in Sellwood
This sign for presidential candidate John McCain was damaged by arson early Saturday. By Margy Lynch and KATU Web StaffPORTLAND, Ore. - Authorities have arrested two men after a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a 4-foot by 8-foot campaign sign for Republican presidential candidate John McCain in a southeast Portland yard. Karen Scrutton said she was asleep inside her home at 7956 S.E. 17th Ave. in the Sellwood neighborhood when she saw her sign go up in flames after 1 a.m. "I screamed upstairs to my husband, 'Gene! Gene!" she said. A neighbor heard a crash and chased off one of the suspects. Gene Scrutton said his son-in-law found another suspect not far away. Not long after, investigators picked up Leslie Brockette Leudtke and Kevin Carl Robinson, both 23. After interviewing them, the pair was charged with four counts each of manufacturing and possession of a destructive device. In addition, Leudtke was charged with a single count of reckless burning. Witnesses said the suspects threw a Molotov cocktail at the sign and used another as a torch. The Scruttons worried that their home could have caught on fire. "Our whole house could have burnt down," Karen Scrutton said while thanking her neighbor for intervening. Despite the ordeal, she said they won't take the sign down. It suffered only minor damage from the fire. |
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