Two men caught on camera damaging ancient federally protected red rock sandstone formations now face jail time after being convicted of defacing a national park.
The pair, Wyatt Clifford Fain and Payden David Guy Cosper, were captured on camera last April shoving the iconic red rock sandstone formations at Nevada’s Lake Mead National Park, home to 140 million-year-old sand dunes. Video of their act went viral and drew quick condemnation.
A jury found each guilty of one count of injury and depredation of government property after a two-day trial, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office. They face a maximum penalty of one year in prison, a $100,000 fine, or both.
They are both set to be sentenced on July 8.
After the men were indicted, Ross Goodman, an attorney representing Cosper, told CNN that there were no signs indicating the area was federally protected.
“There were no signs posted at the entrance prohibiting pushing rocks or that it was a federally protected site,” Goodman said. He added that his client “did not have any knowledge that pushing a boulder was unlawful until the U.S. Marshalls showed up [at] his house four months later.”
In the viral video, the men can be seen standing atop the iconic red rocks, crouching down to push large chunks off the top of formations.
“Daddy don’t fall,” a girl screams in the video while dust flies through the air as the ancient rocks crumble to the ground.
“Why would you even do something like this, like why on Earth would you do this?” John Haynes, a public information officer for the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, told Fox5 in the wake of the video.
He called the act of vandalism “appalling” and “disgusting.”
“It takes millions of years for these rock formations to form and then you get a couple idiots out there that are destroying all that work of nature…it's pretty appalling. It is kind of disgusting,” Haynes continued.
The park spans 1.5 million acres, including mountains, canyons, valleys and two lakes, making it extremely difficult for rangers to monitor all of that ground at all times. He encouraged those witnessing similar moves to film or take photos of the incident if possible.
“It is 1.5 million acres. We have two big lakes, a chunk of the Colorado River. It gets pretty difficult based on our staff levels to be everywhere all at once,” he said at the time.
