OMAHA, Neb. — Jay Johnson loves his two dogs. He says to him, they are family.

This past weekend, he came close to losing them after they escaped from the backyard of his Omaha home. The dogs escaped while Johnson was in the shower.

"(I) get out of the shower, notice there's a message on my phone, ‘I got your dog’,” said Johnson.

That's when Johnson came out, he realized his fence was broken which was how the dogs escaped. He said someone ran into and destroyed his fence the night before.

Luckily, Johnson was able to recover his animals, but he also has an $800 expense to replace the fence, and he's not alone.

The so-called "Kool-Aid Man Challenge" on TikTok is leading to a rash of vandalism in Omaha and surrounding areas.

In the challenge, someone runs into and destroys random fences in an effort to mimic the mascot of the popular powdered drink. The damage is not an easy fix, especially these days.

Surveillance video that was recently captured shows a group of several people charging another fence at a different home in Omaha.

The footage went viral on social media which is getting the attention of law enforcement.

“They get into a group mentality where one of them thinks they have a good idea and the others ones go along with it," said Lt. James Wrigley, Sarpy County Sheriff's Office.
"Once we meet up with these kids individually they tend to say they're sorry and wouldn't do this by themselves,”

Wrigley said say his department has responded to eight calls of this happening across the county. In the case of the aforementioned video, around $3,500 worth of damage was done to the fence.

Lindsay Anderson, Operations Manager at S&W Fence said this kind of damage is normally tough to fix. Current supply shortages make the job even harder.

“Vinyl pricing more than doubled when the pandemic hit as with everything," said Anderson. "The cost to repair them for some people is more than the price they paid to get their entire fence.”

Johnson said he wants to see the people doing this face real consequences.

“They need to learn a lesson, big time," he said. "It can't just be a slap on the hand.”

The Sarpy County Sheriff's Office said they're still looking for the individuals in the video.

Those responsible for the damage could face criminal mischief charges, and the severity of those charges would depend upon the damage to property.

This story was first reported by Ron Johnson at KMTV in Omaha, Neb.

A man is facing multiple charges in connection to the vandalism of the "Bewitched" statue in Salem, Massachusetts, as the landmark was doused with red paint on Monday.

Salem police told sister station WCVB that 32-year-old Kylynn Chambers, a man experiencing homelessness and living in Salem, was arrested on charges of defacing property, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest.

The "Bewitched" statue, a 6-foot-tall bronze sculpture at the corner of Essex and Washington streets, pays tribute to the well-known 1960s television sitcom "Bewitched" and the filming of its seventh season in Salem.

The statue depicts Elizabeth Montgomery, the actress who played the lead character Samantha Stephens, riding a broomstick next to a crescent moon.

Witnesses said they saw the "Bewitched" statue being defaced at about 5 p.m. Monday.

"We smelled, actually, the paint in the air," one witness said. "He was just standing here very nonchalantly with red paint just painting the statue."

Photos shared by one witness, Tim Keough, show part of the statue depicting Montgomery's face and torso covered in red paint.

"There was nothing written on it. There was no sign. He could have spray-painted something on the ground. None of that," said Salem resident Jeffrey Lilley. "It was just from her waist up and her arms and her face."

"She's kind of become, you know, a signature statue in this town. So it's sad. It's random, but it's got people talking about it," said an employee of the Peabody Essex Museum. "So she's going to get some more publicity."

Beth Crowley of Witch City Walking Tours said "this isn't the first time that people were really upset about the statue."

"People believed that the 'Samantha' statue was actually making a joke of the Salem witch trials, which was a very somber time," she said.

Crews power washed the "Bewitched" statue Monday night and were able to clean all the paint off of it, allowing tourists to take photos with it.

There is no serious damage to the statue, but some of the patina — the finish over the statue's surface that developed over time due to weather, stress and/or age — was washed off during the cleaning process.

"Bewitched" aired for eight seasons on ABC from September 1964 to March 1972. The show is about a witch who marries an ordinary man and tries to lead a normal life.

Montgomery earned five Primetime Emmy Award nominations and four Golden Globe Award nominations for her work on "Bewitched." She died of cancer in 1995 at the age of 62.

The "Bewitched" statue in Salem was unveiled in 2005.

HAMILTON, Ohio —

A Hamilton police sergeant was in court to face charges after he swerved left of center and crashed into an oncoming vehicle Friday night.

Casey Johnson, 40, appeared in court by video from the Butler County jail.

Johnson was on the Hamilton force since 2004. He was recently promoted from detective to sergeant but is now on administrative leave.

It all came after a bizarre series of events that started in the Ross High School parking lot after a football game. Investigators said Johnson got into an altercation and then left. Later in the evening, he was involved in the crash.

Butler County sheriff’s deputies said Johnson swerved left of center and hit an oncoming vehicle head-on.

After the crash, deputies put Johnson in the back of a cruiser. Investigators said Johnson kicked the cruiser's door so hard it broke off pieces. He is charged with vandalism.

Johnson refused an alcohol test and has not been charged with OVI. That could change if investigators have any other evidence that he had been driving under the influence.

The woman in the other vehicle is Laura Farnsworth, who lives near the crash scene.

“I can’t walk without crutches right now. I can’t put any weight on my left leg,” Farnsworth said.

In court, Johnson asked to be released without paying a bond.

“If I could request an O.R. (own recognizance) bond. I have no criminal history whatsoever. I’ve resided in Butler County for over 15 years I’ve been employed at the same place for over 15 years,” Johnson said.

Johnson was released on his own recognizance and is to appear back in court Sept. 22.

Related video above: Tourist crashes drone into historic Roman building

Just when you thought the summer of tourists behaving badly was over, another person on vacation wrecks another priceless artifact.

This time it's the turn of an American tourist who smashed no fewer than two ancient Roman sculptures into pieces at the Vatican on Wednesday.

The episode took place in the Museo Chiaramonti, part of the Vatican Museums, around lunchtime. The space holds around 1,000 works of ancient statuary, and describes itself as "one of the finest collections of Roman portraits" in the world.

Two of those portraits are now facing an uncertain future after the tourist knocked over one in anger, then toppled another as he fled the scene.

The man had demanded to see the pope, according to newspaper Il Messaggero. When he was told he couldn't, he allegedly hurled one Roman bust to the floor.

As he ran off, with staff in pursuit, he knocked down another.

The two works of art have been taken to the in-house workshop to be assessed. While around 2,000 years old, they are thought to be secondary works of art, rather than famous works, a source told Il Messaggero.

Director of the Press Office for Vatican Museums Matteo Alessandrini told CNN that the American man, around 50 years old, was in the "Galleria Chiaramonte" corridor, which houses around 100 busts and statues.

"The busts were affixed to shelves with a nail but if you pull them down with force they will come off," he said. "He pulled down one and then the other and the guards came immediately and stopped him and consigned him to the Vatican police who brought him in for questioning. Around 5:30 p.m. he was handed over to the Italian authorities.

"The 2 busts have been damaged but not particularly badly. One lost part of a nose and an ear, the head of the other came off the pedestal."

He said that restoration work had already begun, and that "they will soon be restored and back at the Museum."

Mountain Butorac, who leads pilgrimages to the Vatican and who often visits the Museo Chiaramonti, said: "One of the beautiful things is that it allows the visitors to get literally face to face with these ancient sculptures. My fear is that with behavior like this, barriers could be put in place."

Tourists damaging monuments has been a theme of this summer in Rome. In July, a Canadian tourist was caught carving her name into the Colosseum, while American tourists were caught hurling scooters down the Spanish Steps, breaking off pieces in the process, and a Saudi visitor drove his Maserati down the same architectural icon.

As they deal with heartbreak, watching Russia invade their home country, the Ukrainian community in the Baltimore area is dealing with a tragedy of its own.

Baltimore County Police are investigating vandalized tombstones at the St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church Cemetery in Dundalk, Maryland.

This isn't the first time the cemetery has experienced vandalism in recent years.

“It was horrible to see on the same day that Russia is invading our homeland, hoodlums and ignorant people are desecrating our loved ones' monuments,” said Steve Humeniuk, who was visiting the cemetery.

The church is working to repair tombstones and monuments that were vandalized.

“It’s so upsetting. It’s hard for me to express in words,” said Marianne Crouch, another visitor of the cemetery.

“It’s senseless. I just don’t understand why someone would do something like this. It serves no purpose. It hurts many people. I’m at a loss for words,” said Adrian Sushko, who went to survey the damage on Sunday.

Sushko also had family back in Ukraine. His parents fled to Poland but distant relatives remain in the country.

“They’re currently in one of the subways just hunkering down, not knowing what to do, with a small child,” said Sushko.

He wants to see more of the NATO nations step up to provide arms assistance and humanitarian aid.

“And realize this isn’t just harm being done to one country but this is something that can affect everybody and it’s an assault on our democracy so I think everyone has a vested interest to do whatever they can do to stop this madness,” said Sushko.

This story was originally published by Abby Isaacs of WMAR in Baltimore, Maryland.