Washington Paint Vandalism Suspect is a Chinese National

Another odd turn in an odd case.

A woman charged with defacing the Washington National Cathedral was carrying what appeared to be a soda can containing green paint when she was arrested, and she has been linked to at least four other incidents of vandalism, including at the Lincoln Memorial, according to prosecutors and court documents.

Jiamei Tian, 58, appeared in D.C. Superior Court Tuesday alongside a Mandarin translator.

The woman was arrested Monday at the cathedral, where she is accused of using green paint to deface an organ and decorative woodwork in two separate chapels. She’s been charged with defacing and destroying private property. A judge on Tuesday ordered her held without bond.

Authorities believe the green paint vandalism was part of a pattern of similar acts. Green paint was discovered splattered onto the Lincoln Memorial early Friday morning, and it was also reported Friday on a statue of Joseph Henry — the Smithsonian’s first secretary — outside the Smithsonian headquarters on the National Mall.

The woman, who has a Chinese passport, arrived in Washington a few days ago and was traveling on an expired visa, prosecutors said. Police said she had no fixed address but that she told officers she lived in Los Angeles.

So she is an illegal alien, and evidently a starving artist who just longed to come out of the shadows. Maybe she was upset at the slow pace of immigration reform.

Or maybe she’s a displaced Planned Parenthood activist.

Following her arrest, a witness contacted police and reported that a person matching the woman’s description had been seen attending a service at a church less than a block from Thomas Circle, according to court documents. The witness reported that the woman was carrying three bags with her. After she left, the witness found that a pipe organ in the church had been splattered with white paint, urine and feces, documents show.