For stealing them:
“It was learned that the flags that were taken and damaged belonged to the city of Bussey,” an investigator
And for being a crazy, pantsless person.
For better or worse, people are entitled to burn, tear up, hawk loogies on, or wipe their backsides with an American or any flag, so long as they would be allowed to do the same to a plain piece of cloth.
You cannot burn a flag inside a library, because you cannot even light a match in a library. But you could burn it in a national park, if you would also be allowed to barbecue there.