Woman’s Pride and BLM flags keep getting stolen, WA cops say. It might be a hate crime

Suspected thieves keep sneaking onto a Washington woman’s porch and tearing down banners and flags showing support for various causes, including Pride, Black Lives Matter and reproductive rights. It’s happened four times in five months, authorities say.

Now Rebecca Long is turning it into an opportunity to make a stronger statement.

Cheney Police are investigating the thefts and property damage as a possible hate crime, according to a post on the department’s Facebook page. Cheney is about 15 miles southwest of Spokane.

Multiple people have targeted Long’s home to steal and damage flags and banners that represent her religious and political values, the department said in the post. At the advice of officers, she placed multiple cameras on the property to catch the suspected thieves in the act, authorities said.

In the most recent incident, three people were caught on camera just before midnight on Sept. 30, the post says. Authorities posted pictures in hopes the public can help identify them.

In one video posted to YouTube, a person wearing a ski mask runs around the corner of the porch, hoists themselves up onto the railing, reaches around the post supporting the porch and then vaults down from the porch railing carrying a Pride flag.

Another video from the angle of a surveillance doorbell camera shows one person, wearing a Hollister brand hoodie with the hood cinched over their head and a mask covering their mouth and nose, leap onto the porch to tear down what appears to be a Black Lives Matter flag near the front door. Just behind them, another person dressed in a similar way rips down a banner at the front of the porch.

Behind them, the person wearing the ski mask appears to run toward the road with the Pride flag still in hand. They also appear to snatch down another flag hanging from the other side of the porch, the video shows.

Authorities ask anyone who recognizes the individuals or their clothing, or anyone who has information that might be helpful to contact Officer Maria Fell at mfell@cityofcheney.org or the Cheney Police Department’s non-emergency line at 590-535-9233 and reference case #1-22-000928.

Fed up by the repeated thefts, Long turned to the internet to showthe accused thieves’ that she’s sticking by the causes represented by the stolen banners.

“These folks are making a statement about their values by what they repeatedly steal from my porch,” Long wrote in the bio of a GoFundMe campaign she says she started to raise money for local LGBTQ+, Black and reproductive rights organizations. “I want us to make a statement that we won’t stand for this. That we do not share their values. That we want to make our whole community better. Make our community inclusive and supportive.”

Long wrote that she would split the funds raised equally among organizations in nearby Spokane that she said support the causes displayed on the flags and banners the suspected thieves stole.

“Help me make this stand against hate,” she added. “There is more good in this world than hate.”

Man says he planned mass shooting hoping to ‘slaughter’ women at Ohio college, feds say

Man burns his camper in fake anti-Trump hate crime to collect donations, feds say

Man ransacks Planned Parenthood in Oregon, then returns to do more damage, feds say