A man with a criminal history who regularly preaches at a police substation in Wildwood has been arrested after allegedly damaging lampposts.
Glenn Ladale Thompson, 44, of Wildwood, was booked Friday at the Sumter County Detention Center on a charge of criminal mischief. Bond was set at $2,000.
Officers discovered Thursday that five separate lampposts had been toppled over at the Martin Luther King Jr. Park. The lampposts which had not been toppled, had their light globes or electrical connections destroyed, according to an arrest report from the Wildwood Police Department. Damage was estimated at $2,600.
An officer reviewed video surveillance and identified Thompson, whom the officer recognized from the Wildwood Police Department substation on Jackson Street where Thompson would stand out front “and preach nearly every morning.”
Thompson has a long history of arrests, including:
• In 2019, he was arrested on a felony charge of battery after he allegedly pushed a woman on the side of her face after she refused to give him any of her cigars.
• Thompson was arrested in 2016 after an alleged attack on his girlfriend as she slept.
• He was arrested in 2014 on charges of trespassing and criminal mischief.
