Two convicted after ancient rock formations damaged at Lake Mead
A federal jury convicted two Henderson men on Wednesday on charges related to the damage of ancient rock formations at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, according to federal prosecutors.
Wyatt Fain and Payden Cosper were each found guilty of one count of injury and depredation of government property, said Sigal Chattah, interim U.S. attorney for the District of Nevada, in a news release. The two were accused of pushing a formation over a cliff onto the ground below while near the Redstone Dunes Trail on April 7, 2024.
U.S. District Judge Jennifer Dorsey has scheduled their sentencing for July 8. Fain and Cosper each face a maximum of one year in prison, a $100,000 fine, or both. Attorneys for Fain and Cosper could not be reached for comment as of Wednesday evening.
The rock formations and natural caves were carved out by erosion and weathering from sand dunes believed to be approximately 140 million years old, according to a now-deleted web page by the National Park Service that remains accessible through the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.
John Haynes, a former spokesman for the National Park Service, told the Review-Journal in April 2024 that due to the park’s size — about 1.5 million acres — it’s impossible for Lake Mead rangers to see everything. He added that anyone who witnesses destructive activity taking place on park grounds should record the incident and inform park officials.
“I can’t understand why anyone would do this,” Haynes said. “These sandstone formations take millions of years to form, and a couple of yahoos show up and destroy them in a few minutes.”
Authorities said on Wednesday to report any suspicious conduct to the National Park Service Tip Line at 1-888-653-0009, or by emailing the tip to nps_isb@nps.gov.
Contact Casey Harrison at charrison@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Casey_Harrison1 on X or @casey-harrison.bsky.social on Bluesky.
