Charges have been dropped against two soldiers who were arrested early last year for repeatedly stealing Pride flags displayed outside a lesbian couple’s home in Arlington, Virginia.
Last February, police arrested then 20-year-old Matthew Henshaw and 23-year-old Joseph DiGregorio, both of whom were stationed at Joint Base Fort Meyer-Henderson Hall and were members of the Army’s 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, an elite regiment known as The Old Guard. Henshaw was charged with three counts each of bias-motivated unlawful entry and petit larceny for stealing flags from the home of Michelle Logan and Jenna Burnett on September 16, September 30, and January 27, while DiGregorio faced one count of petit larceny for stealing the couple’s flag on January 21.
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But as ARLnow reported, the case against DiGregorio was dropped in September, while a district court judge formally dismissed the charges against Henshaw on December 23, after both men completed the Heart of Safety Restorative Justice Conferencing Program.
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Arlington Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghni-Tafti told the Washington Bladeand other outlets that the goal of the recently initiated program is to provide an alternative to incarceration. Both those charged with a crime and the victims must voluntarily agree to participate in the program, which is not open to those charged with certain violent crimes.
“It really requires people to think about what they did to the victim and explain to the victim, face to face often, why they did it and make a promise to the victim that they are going to be different and not do it again,” Dehghni-Tafti told the Blade.
Henshaw and DiGregorio were required to admit to their crimes, attended counseling sessions over a period of six months, and meet with Logan and Burnett, according to the Blade.
“We believed they could potentially be amenable to change and also felt that simply putting charges on their records didn’t necessarily feel like enough,” Logan told ARLnow. “We wanted them to try to educate themselves and understand why stealing a Pride flag isn’t just a felony but a hate crime against two people who had to live through it.”
According to the outlet, after initially meeting with Henshaw and DiGregorio, Logan and Burnett determined an assignment for the two soldiers that would help educate them “about the LGBTQ+ community and being better allies.”
The thefts of Logan and Burnett’s flags were captured by their home’s Ring camera. The couple posted the videos, which showed the suspects brazenly ripping the flags down in the middle of the night, to social media, where users reportedly sent tips that helped identify Henshaw and DiGregorio.
Following the December 2023 theft, Burnett said the couple decided to donate $100 to an LGBTQ+ organization every time their flags were stolen. Last January, Logan told ARLnow that she and Burnett had raised over $1,000 for the Trevor Project via an Instagram fundraiser.
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