A trial began Wednesday for three men facing hate crime and malicious mischief charges for allegedly defacing the “Friendship Fence” in Chehalis earlier this year.
The three suspects, identified as Frank John B. Bagley II, 40, of Seattle, Matthew A. Clement, 33, of Centralia, and Gabriel R. Smith-Nilsen, 25, of Driggs, Idaho, were arrested in Centralia early in the morning on Sunday, Feb. 25, after a neighbor saw them defacing the Friendship Fence in Chehalis and followed them as they fled in a dark-colored Subaru station wagon.
Officers found a stencil “covered in multicolored paint and had the words ‘Patriotfront’ as the cutout for the sign,” as well as a blue bag containing “several pieces of White Lives Matter and … literature and propaganda stickers” inside the vehicle the suspects were in when Centralia police arrested them on Feb. 25.
The suspects have been out of custody on $20,000 bail each soon after their preliminary hearings on Feb. 26. They were still out of custody as of Sept. 25.