BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — Authorities say that a woman from Hyde Park has been charged with vandalizing gravestones in Mount Park Cemetery after she was seen throwing an unknown substance at a gravestone.
Boston Police said that on Thursday around 4:45 p.m. officers saw 53-year-old Deborah Gideon toss what appeared to be red powder in the air and onto Millstone Street before getting in her car.
Officers then followed her to the Mattapan cemetery, where they saw her get out of her car, walk towards some headstones, and throw something towards the gravemarkers.
Those officers stopped her in the cemetery and noticed a spray bottle, a gallon of a reddish liquid, containers of various colored salt, powered juice mixes, and olive oil in her car.
Gideon was arrested and charged with, Attempt to Commit a Crime to wit:Vandalism of a Gravestone and Malicious Destruction of Property Over $1200, according to Police.
She appeared in West Roxbury District Court on Friday and was ordered to undergo a mental health evaluation.
Authorities say that Gideon will be arraigned on eight counts of vandalism after the evaluation.
Those eight charges also cover a string of other vandalism crimes that were discovered in the same cemetery on March 19, which authorities say she is responsible for.
Police also said they believe Gideon is responsible for several other acts of vandalism across the city, including the defacing of the South Boston WWII Memorial in March, multiple similar incidents in Hyde Park and Dorchester in April, and another case where she allegedly threw the substance on construction workers and claimed she was "anointing" them — but charges have yet to be filed.