A three-time U.S. Olympic canoeist now faces a criminal charge after he stopped during a bike ride to inspect the peeling bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool.

David Hearn, 67, of Bethesda, Maryland, was charged with the misdemeanor offense of destruction of government property, according to Mediaite. U.S. Park Police arrested him Friday at the monument.

Hearn was held for roughly five hours by National Guard troops and Park Police before his release that night, according to The Associated Press. He is set to appear in D.C. Superior Court on July 9, Raw Story reported. (RELATED: Parts Of National Park Closed After Bears Chased, Bit Visitors)

The former Olympian said he paused a 52-mile ride to feel the detached blue liner along the pool’s floor. “I reached in there, and I was able to grab the end of that flapping piece, the already peeling piece,” Hearn told The Washington Post. “It was still attached to the bottom. I didn’t remove anything.” He added, “I didn’t vandalize anything. I didn’t destroy or break or peel anything.”

“I’m a curious citizen,” Hearn told The Associated Press in a phone interview. “I reached down to see what it felt like. It was very rubbery.”

A conservative journalist, Emily Miller, filmed the arrest and wrote that Hearn seized a hose that workers were using to clear algae, according to Raw Story. That alleged act does not appear in her video.

President Donald Trump announced multiple arrests at the pool and posted about jail time. “These are very serious crimes having to do with the destruction of National Monuments. Years in jail!” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

The pool underwent a $14.8 million restoration, according to the New York Post. Its new blue coating turned green with algae, and the lining began peeling after workers applied chemicals to treat the bloom, according to The Associated Press.