Woman faces charges after putting out joint on Fort Myers officer memorial

A Port Charlotte woman was arrested early Saturday morning after officers say she put out a joint on a fallen officer’s memorial plaque in downtown Fort Myers after being spotted smoking weed near a nightclub.

Officers with the Fort Myers Police Department say they could smell the weed from a distance and found a group of people, including Jessenia Veg, 32, standing next to the Andrew Widman memorial around 2 a.m.

The memorial stands in the same spot where Widman was shot and killed in 2008.

Vega was taking a hit from a joint. A few hours earlier, the owner of The Indigo Room at 2219 Main St. was upset over the number of people who stand outside smoking weed and had asked for more patrols, according to the arrest report.

Vega continued to smoke after being asked to stop, then put out the burning end of the joint on the face of the Andrew Widman memorial plaque. She shouted back that she was in fact smoking a cigar.

FMPD Lt. Roger Valdivia said, “I was working the night that he was killed. I was a supervisor. I was there was obviously several other officers. So it does hit home, you know, to know that someone purposely do that.

The owner of The Indigo Room, Raimond Aulen, said he’s not shocked since he sees people smoke marijuana outside all the time. “It’s pretty obvious a lot of the time. And sometimes they just do it right in front of you. And, you know, I always say that if you’re letting people get away with the small things, it’ll lead to bigger problems.”

Officers detained her and observed that the memorial was defaced with ash burn marks. Vega was arrested and faces charges of possession of marijuana (less than 20 grams) and defacing a monument intended for the memorial of the dead.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated who requested increased patrols. The request was made by the owner of The Indigo Room.