Leo Awgowhat, a longshot candidate for Memphis mayor, has been arrested Friday in connection with the vandalism of the Nathan Bedford Forrest statue in a Memphis city park, reports the Commercial Appeal.
Awgowhat, 43, was charged with desecration of a venerated object and trespass or injury to a cemetery property, said Memphis police spokesman Louis Brownlee.
Overnight Thursday, the words “Aw Go What” were painted on both sides of the statue’s base.
An affidavit said Awgowhat told investigators one of his “multiple personalities” named “Awgo” came up with the idea. He denied “direct participation.” He said he believed one of four people was responsible, the affidavit said.
He was booked into Shelby County Jail Friday afternoon and is scheduled to appear in court at 8:30 a.m. Monday, according to the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office website.
The incident occurred two days after the City Council voted to remove the politically charged monument to the Confederate officer from Health Sciences Park and 10 days after someone painted “Black Lives Matter’’ on the front of the statue’s base. Statue admirers had quickly scrubbed clean the monument after the earlier act of vandalism.
…Formerly known as Jason Wells, Awgowhat has been charged with minor crimes or infractions at least seven times in Shelby County since 2002. He pleaded guilty in 2010 to misdemeanor possession of marijuana following his arrest at the University of Tennessee Health Sciences Center where he allegedly chest-bumped a security guard who had asked him to leave.
Awgowhat currently is under indictment on a charge of possession of marijuana following an incident last year in which officers allegedly found him in a car smoking a marijuana cigarette.