NEW WINDSOR – Police have arrested a 40-year-old New Windsor man in connection with cutting down two flagpoles in New Windsor and one in Washingtonville.
New Windsor Police arrested Andre Narbonne where he was charged with three counts of criminal mischief as felonies and one count as a misdemeanor. He was arraigned in New Windsor Town Justice Court and released without bail pending a future court appearance.
He was charged with cutting down a flagpole on July 9 at a commercial strip mall on Windsor Highway and a second incident the following day at a cemetery on Erie Avenue.
He was also charged by Washingtonville Village Police for the July 8 incident involving cutting down a flagpole at their 911 memorial and for vandalizing a church-owned sign in the village.
Narbonne left the area for Washington State just after he committed the crimes in New Windsor and was arrested recently when he returned to New York.
New Windsor Police Chief Robert Doss called the vandalism “deeply disturbing incidents (that) are disgraceful and offensive.”
He said the fact that the flagpoles where flying the American flag “just adds to the outrageousness of these crimes.”
Washingtonville Police Chief Brian Zaccaro said Narbonne “would never have expected that the damage he deliberately caused would have resulted in the mass outpouring from the community and the attention of the nation.”
Orange County District Attorney David Hoovler said, “the deliberate defacing and destruction of flagpoles and property in areas set aside to remember the fallen heroes of September 11, 2011, and at places of religious worship is especially distressing to all in the community.”
Assisting in the investigation were State Police, the FBI Safe Streets Task Force, US Marshal’s Service, the Orange County Sheriff’s and District Attorney’s Offices and the Hudson Valley Crime Analysis Center.
