PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — A former soldier from Washington is being accused of attempting to start a riot and using tools to smash through the windows of local buildings, including Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland.
According to court documents, Kenneth George Harold was an active member of the U.S. Army stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington during the time of his crimes. He didn’t leave the army until May 2022.
The District of Oregon’s U.S. Attorney Natalie K. Wight and Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew Ho filed the court documents on Wednesday, Feb. 8. The records state that Harold communicated with others or traveled to Portland on more than one occasion to incite violence and damage property.
Court documents show that on Feb. 17, 2021, the defendant sent a text message in which he suggested that he and the recipient break windows and distract law enforcement “again.” About a week later, Harold had a similar interaction with another contact.
“The cool thing about Portland is that there are a ton of people that show up so it’s easier to perform the type of direct action I like to do like throwing smoke bombs so that the pigs can see us or I would cut loose with a mortar fir [sic] sure,” the person typed in their message.
Harold replied that it seemed easier to conduct those actions in Portland than it did in Seattle.
On two different occasions during the week of March 8, Harold texts contacts in Oregon about trying a new tool on windows that Friday, March 12 — which is when the Portland Police Bureau detained about 100 people following widespread vandalism in the Pearl District.
The defendant said that he felt “almost more comfortable doing it in pdx sense [sic] things go so crazy here all the time it’s normal.”
In the same text message thread, Harold said that he hoped similar events would happen in Seattle or else the two would have to travel to Portland more often.
And on March 14, 2021, the defendant told the same contact that the previous night was fun and he learned that his new tool worked well. According to the court documents, Harold continued to message contacts about using hammers and other tools to break through windows for about another month.
The records mention a text from April 2, 2021, in which the defendant says, “the windows we love to see shattered but it’s so easy to replace too. Minneapolis made the biggest impact with burning it down.”
Later that month on April 20, he and a contact discuss smashing the windows of “slimy nonprofit” Boys & Girls Clubs of Portland. The contact asserted that Harold and others should destroy anything because “every business upholds capitalism.”
Afterward, on that same Tuesday, the defendant and an additional contact sent messages about traveling to Portland.
“It’s at the justice center I’ve always wanted to do one of those ones!! Those nights go insane!” Harold said, according to court documents.
Records state that the former soldier caused about $11,188.43 worth of damage in Downtown Portland. He now faces an interstate riot charge.