Chicago Tribune: A 21-year-old homeless woman was charged this evening with setting a fire at a Chicago Public Library branch on the North Side that damaged about 100 books, most of them in the gay and lesbian collection.
Erica Graham was charged with one count of attempted aggravated arson in the Tuesday fire at the John Merlo Branch Library, 644 W. Belmont Ave., said Tandra Simonton, spokeswoman for the Cook County state’s attorney’s office.
“It was not a hate crime,” Simonton said of the incident.
She said Graham was arrested today, but could not provide further details.
Hate crime, it aint
Turns out the homeless woman wasn’t angry at the books but library rules that did not allow her to sleep in the library and another rule that she couldn’t use a library computer at the same time as her boyfriend. The 21-year-old mother of two, with another child on the way, just wanted to express her displeasure by burning some books in a secluded area of the library. After setting the fire, she went and took a nap.