Two Nevada men were stupid to think they could get away with deliberately damaging 140 million-year-old rock formations near Lake Mead, but they probably won’t end up in a federal penitentiary over it, a retired law enforcement ranger told Cowboy State Daily.
“Getting 10 years out of it? That’s never going to happen,” said Greg Jackson, the former deputy chief of the National Park Service division of law enforcement, security and emergency services. He now runs NPS Park Ranger News.
Henderson, Nevada, residents Wyatt Clifford Fain, 37, and Payden David Guy Cosper, 31, are each charged with one count of injury and depredation of government property and one count of aiding and abetting.
Both men pleaded not guilty for the vandalism that happened April 7, and the case is set for an Oct. 8 trial, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Nevada.
If convicted, they could each face up to 10 years in prison.
The video shows the men, and an unidentified young girl, had climbed up into the rock formation and were working hard to send huge chunks of the red boulders tumbling down, smashing on the rock face on the way down.
They change position several times trying to get enough leverage to break loose the large rocks.
Sentencing Guidelines ‘Advisory’
It’s the type of vandalism that evokes strong emotions because it involves defacing priceless and irreplaceable public natural treasures, but because they were caught on video doing it.
Although what the men are accused of is serious, federal authorities rarely take such cases to the level of tossing people into the slammer for a decade, Jackson said.
It’s more likely that a plea agreement will be reached before the case goes to trial, and Fain and Cosper will be slapped with hefty fines and probation, he said.
The severity of sentence could be up to the judge’s discretion, legal expert Christopher Crofts of Cheyenne told Cowboy State Daily.
The judge might fall back on sentencing guidelines, said Crofts, the former U.S. Attorney for the District of Wyoming.
“Guidelines used to be mandatory, but are now only advisory,” Crofts said. “And the calculation depends on other factors besides the offense, such as prior criminal history record.”
Not Just Any Old Rocks
Tearing things up on federal lands these days is foolish because “there are cameras everywhere,” said Jackson, who at one time was stationed at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area where the incident took place.
The National Park Service posted a screenshot from a video that allegedly shows the defendants pushing boulders from a cliff at the Redstone Dunes Trail area near Lake Mead.
Jackson said he’s familiar with those 140 million-year-old rock formations, and they are a big deal.
“It’s not just a rock, it’s ‘THE’ rock. It’s not just a formation, it’s ‘THE formation,” he said.
“It would be like going to the Redwood Forest and cutting down a Redwood, or going to Sequioa National Park and cutting down a Sequioa,” he said.
As the case moves forward, the prosecution will likely emphasize the significance of the rock formations the men are accused of damaging, he said.
However, the defense will probably still try to plead the charges down to misdemeanors, particularly if the defendants have no record of previous violations, Jackson said.
“If you look at the statistics for most federal cases, they never go to trial,” he said. “Statistically, there’s a very good chance that it will be settled by plea agreement.”
Contact Mark Heinz at mark@cowboystatedaily.com
Mark Heinz can be reached at mark@cowboystatedaily.com.
