Man charged in Labor Day weekend vandalism spree in Fitchburg

Authorities say a 20-year-old man admitted to being bored and high when he vandalized more than two dozen vehicles and other property — including with racist and misogynist slurs — during a weekend crime spree in his affluent Fitchburg neighborhood last month.

Alexander B. Munson was charged Monday with 35 counts of criminal damage to property, including five as felonies, for scratching images and words into vehicles, slicing up hoses and pool covers, slashing tires, damaging exterior lights and causing other destruction in the Seminole Hills and Seminole Forest neighborhoods over the Labor Day weekend, Sept. 1-4 — most likely in the early morning hours of Sept. 4, police say. He also faces three counts of misdemeanor mail theft for allegedly taking mail or packages from some of the homes.

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Munson, who is described in a criminal complaint as living in Seminole Hills, was released on a signature bond and with GPS monitoring Monday and ordered to stay out of the neighborhoods where the damage occurred.

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According to the criminal complaint:

Residents started reporting the damage on the afternoon of Sept. 3, when a man called police to tell them one of his tires had been slashed the night before in the 2900 block of Richardson Street.

The next day, while investigating reports of damage in the 5800 block of Tree Line Drive, police found a blue Kia Forte with a punctured tire and scratches on the trunk and the words “Trump 2024” and “Hail Satan” carved into the left driver’s-side door and front left fender. “Satan” was also carved into a home’s front door and three other vehicles, one of which also included the words “I will kill you.”

Police found what appeared to be swastikas or crosses carved into another car, and slurs usually used to target women were carved into at least three other cars, as well as the door to the men’s room at the splash pad at McKee Farms Park.

Police also found a 2009 Honda Accord with a derogatory slang word for a Black person carved into the trunk of the vehicle.

Other damaged items residents and police found include a children’s rope swing, lawn chair cushions, a trampoline and a vehicle that appeared to have been shot with a BB gun.

Police used surveillance footage from the neighborhood to identify Munson, and when they interviewed him at his home, he admitted to walking around the neighborhood at night and wearing the same clothing as the suspect in the surveillance images.

He had been “just bored, I guess,” he told police, and thought he remembered damaging a vehicle with a BB gun. Some of the crimes he remembered, he said, but others he didn’t because he had been smoking marijuana. He denied vandalizing anything with a racial slur.

Police said they found a BB gun in Munson’s backpack, as well as a multipurpose tool allegedly used to slash tires and scratch vehicles. They also found a check that had gone missing from a victim’s mailbox.

Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said Munson was not charged with a hate-crime enhancer for the racist slur or images because there wasn’t any evidence to suggest a victim’s protected status was a factor in whom Munson allegedly targeted.

An attorney listed for Munson in court records did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday afternoon.

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