BOYSTOWN — A woman who used lipstick to deface a window of the controversial restaurant Chop Chop Chinaman was fined $200 in a court hearing Tuesday.
Jeannie Harrell, 26, was arrested and charged with criminal damage to property in March after she said she was offended by the restaurant's name and logo and she wrote a message on its window.
"F--- this hate crime s---. It's 2015," she scrawled.
Restaurant owner Larry Lee reportedly said the damage cost hundreds of dollars, but he said he only called police after Harrell posted a photo of her message on Twitter.
On Tuesday, Harrell pleaded guilty to the charge and was fined $200. She recapped the hearing on Twitter.
I'm a FREE WOMAN pic.twitter.com/GhNkI4OaqJ
— jeannie (@trueassfacts) June 9, 2015
I had to pay $200 restitution to the courts, and I can't get arrested for the next 30 days, but I'm FREE LIKE BEER.
— jeannie (@trueassfacts) June 9, 2015
"The irony of [the owners] not being able to handle my message and calling the cops is not lost on me. I own up to the fact that what I did was a misdemeanor — I did write on a business with lipstick — but that is as much as I own up to," Harrell told DNainfo Chicago shortly after her arrest.
Harrell's court case concluded just days after Chop Chop Chinaman, 3343 N. Halsted St., closed its doors. Lee said he hoped the closure would be temporary, but needed to find an investor after profits failed to meet expectations.
The restaurant opened in February in the building that formerly housed Mark's Chop Suey.
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