Two men charged with damaging ancient rock formation at Lake Mead. Image: Screengrab
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nevada has charged two men with injury and depredation of government property and aiding and abetting after video surfaced of them toppling ancient rock formations over the edge of a small cliff at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Wyatt Clifford Fain, 37, and Payden David Guy Cosper, 31, face up to 10 years in prison for the incident and both pleaded not guilty after they were arrested last Friday by U.S. Marshalls in Las Vegas.
Their defense seems to hinge on the claim that “there were no signs posted at the entrance prohibiting pushing rocks” or any warnings that they were doing so in a “federally protected site,” a defense lawyer for Cosper told ABC News.
Whatever they thought they were doing or attempting to do, authorities say the stunt amounted to $1,000 in damages. What’s more, the rock formations they were toppling over the edge of the small cliff are estimated to be more than 140-million years old, so it’s easy to understand why authorities would take something like this so seriously. In April, the National Park Service posted a screenshot from the video and called on the public to help them identify both men. They say staffing levels require park officials to rely on the public to keep watch over the park boundaries in instances like this, and in this case it appears the public helped them track down two people causing senseless damage on federally protected land.
