Tri-Cities man caught spray painting swastika, message on Benton County Coroner’s Office

A Tri-Cities man is accused of spray painting a sprawling message and swastika across the Benton County Coroner’s Office in broad daylight Tuesday.

The alleged vandal, Dustin Alan Cook, pulled up in front of the building just across from the Benton County Jail on a motorcycle Tuesday morning.

The coroner’s office is located on the other side of a parking lot from the Benton County jail, sheriff’s office and courtrooms, and the other side of the street from the Ben Franklin Transit Center. The buildings were all open at the time.

According to reports, Cook, 33, was caught on video camera pulling up and stopping for a while before he began scrawling a message across the entire front of the building.

The message which had, several misspellings and one unreadable section, said:

“Thay don’t give a f--k about solvino murdeurs of Norobod ... United Nations.”

He added a swastika above the message. It’s believed that he was trying to write “solving murders” and that Norobod refers to a city in Uzbekistan.

Coroner Bill Leach, who was out of the office on Tuesday, said it happened while his staff was working inside.

Some facilities staff spotted the suspect while he was finishing, and called 911.

Kennewick police tracked down Cook and he was arrested for destruction of property over $100, according to the jail roster.

Cook didn’t have any connection with the coroner’s office, Leach said. And it appears that he has mental health issues.

He does have a lengthy history of misdemeanor crimes, mostly for reckless driving, according to public records.

The graffiti had been painted over by Wednesday morning, and Leach said it didn’t appear that the red paint would bleed through.

The justice center campus does have cameras, but this is not the first time someone has left their mark in the area. Someone was caught within the past year tagging several buildings in the area, including the coroner’s office.

This story was originally published August 16, 2023 at 12:39 PM.