5 teens who vandalized petroglyphs are sentenced

Five teens who admitted to vandalizing a series of popular petroglyphs outside St. George are being sentenced to community service, detention and ordered to pay restitution.

The two boys, ages 16 and 17, and three 15-year-old girls admitted to scratching their names and obscenities into the petroglyphs near Land Hill back in May 2005. Two admitted to the crime in December 2005 the remaining three admitted to the charges last week.

"The same five irresponsible, immature brats that were responsible have pled out," said Dawna Ferris-Rowley, assistant field office manager for St. George office of the Bureau of Land Management. "They were within rock-throwing distance of a sign warning them about federal lands and protecting archaeological resources."

Bureau of Land Management agents said the teens were partying at Land Hill in the 6,500-acre Santa Clara River Reserve near Ivins and Santa Clara when they scratched a series of petroglyphs depicting sheep. Burned pallets and beer cans were found littered near the vandalism.

The popular area overlooks the Santa Clara River and has a high concentration of petroglyphs. Some of the petroglyphs are believed to be more than 5,000 years old and affiliated with the Virgin Anasazi and the Southern Paiute tribes.

Federal law enforcement officials offered a reward, which led investigators to look at the teens, Ferris-Rowley said.

The Washington County Attorney's Office eventually charged the teens with felonies under Utah's Cultural Sites Protection Act.

Prosecutors said four of the teens were ordered to serve 30 days detention and perform 188 hours of community service. The fifth teen was fined $750 and ordered to serve 30 days detention.

Prosecutors said they plan to seek $7,500 in restitution from all of them to repair the petroglyphs. A hearing on that is scheduled for the end of February.

"They just said they were being dumb. They said they were bored, they didn't realize what they were damaging or that it was as big of a deal as it was," deputy Washington County Attorney Angela Adams said.

She said she visited the site shortly after the teens were charged to see for herself what had happened.

"It was really disturbing," she said Tuesday. "I appreciate the kind of stuff that's there, the rock art and the petroglyphs. I just thought it was sad. It's scratched into the rock. It's not something that wipes off, and it's not something that can be truly repaired."

The BLM plans to bring in a professional rock art conservator to in-paint the scratched areas. Ferris-Rowley said it will not permanently repair the vandalism but will make it less apparent.

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com