An Ex-NFL player allegedly staged a fake hate crime at his Georgia business in which he claimed burglars vandalized the premises and spray-painted swastikas, racial slurs, and “MAGA” all over his bakery.
31 year old, Edawn Louis Coughman, was arrested Thursday on charges of filing a false report of a crime, insurance fraud, and concealing a license plate after he told police a burglar was responsible for spray painting racist language and imagery on the walls of his bakery business.
According to NBC News, photos taken by police at the scene show damages to the walls and furniture, spray painted words and images, including the n-word, a swastika and “MAGA” — an abbreviated version of Trump’s campaign slogan, “Make America Great Again.”
Law enforcement officials said that they were called for a burglary report at Coughman’s “Create and Bake Restaurant” and Coughman’s Creamery, in the Atlanta suburb of Lawrenceville on Wednesday night. The 911 caller told police that someone was driving a black Chevrolet Silverado with no license plate.
When police officers arrived to the shopping center, they stopped a truck matching the description and saw Coughman driving the Silverado. It also appeared that Coughman had several televisions in the back of the truck with mounting brackets on the back with “damaged drywall” attached, police said.
Cops found several graffiti words and symbols, including “MAGA,” were spray-painted inside the business.Gwinnett County Police Officers saw the backdoor of the bakery had “yellow pry marks” and saw the graffiti on the walls was still wet from the paint.
“Several booth cushions were sliced open,” the Gwinett County Police said. “They also found broken mirrors, cut wires, and a damaged video surveillance system.”
Coughman told cops that he saw the damage earlier in the day and notified his insurance company but did not call police. Investigators discovered the incident occurred much later than Coughman claimed. And A search warrant on the Silverado found a yellow crow bar as well as cans of black spray paint in the vehicle.
Coughman was signed to eight different teams throughout his NFL career but never played in a regular season. He also played nine games in 2011 with the Canadian Football league.
