A General District Court judge granted cashless bail to the Stafford man accused of using a sledgehammer to damage the Iwo Jima statue near Quantico, even after a magistrate had ordered him held without bond. After the commonwealth attorney objected, the general district court Judge stayed his own release order until a higher court could hear the bail objection.
On Friday, retired Prince William Circuit Court Judge Craig D. Johnston continued the bond-appeal hearing to Monday at 9:30 a.m. after defense attorney Barry Zweig said Miguel Alonso Maldonado Soriano had not been notified of the date. Johnston ordered him held until that hearing.
Maldonado Soriano, 27, faces felony destruction of property, trespass with intent to damage property, and felony injury to a monument. Prince William County police said officers found him late Wednesday night actively striking the limestone monument near Richmond Highway and Fuller Road, removing the head of one depicted Marine and causing an estimated hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage.
Unless the Circuit Court reverses the lower court’s cashless-bail order, he would be released after Monday’s hearing. Federal sources previously told Fox News that Maldonado Soriano is a Mexican national and former DACA recipient whose status expired in August 2026 after it was not renewed. He is accused of illegally entering the United States in December 1999.
White House spokeswoman Taylor Rogers told Fox News: “This criminal illegal alien’s dream is over: Maldonado Soriano disrespected our brave service members and defaced a beautiful monument that honored their sacrifice. President Trump has secured our border and is deporting illegal criminals who hate our country and our values. The socialist Democrats want to go back to open borders and flood our communities with dangerous criminal illegal aliens.”
Rep. John McGuire, R-5th, posted on X Friday: “As the grandson of a veteran who fought at the Battle of Iwo Jima, I am disgusted that an illegal alien who broke into our country took a sledgehammer to a historic Iwo Jima monument a Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia. He must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”
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