Lake Mead Rock Trial: Men Accused of ‘Deliberate Destruction Gone Viral’

A federal prosecutor said the damage to rock formations at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada was a “willful effort” by the men charged.

Prosecutors allege Wyatt Clifford Fain and Payden David Guy Cosper pushed large rock formations over a cliff edge around the Redstone Dunes Trail on April 7, 2024, resulting in damages of more than $1,000.

Assistant U.S. attorney Skyler Pearson told jurors during opening statements at their trial on Tuesday that it was “deliberate destruction gone viral,” according to a report by Courthouse News Service.

Newsweek has contacted attorneys for Fain and Cosper for comment via email.

The Context

Video that captured two visitors to the Lake Mead National Recreation Area pushing rock formations off a cliff went viral last year. It showed them climbing the rock formations and pushing several slabs of sandstone to the ground, where they crumbled to dust.

The desert dunes responsible for the rock formations in the area existed 140 million years ago, according to the National Park Service.

What To Know

Fain and Cosper, both of Henderson, were each charged with one count of injury and depredation of government property and one count of aiding and abetting in August last year. They were released on a personal recognizance bond after pleading not guilty to the charges.

The men each face up to 10 years in prison if convicted, the Department of Justice said.

On Thursday, Pearson told jurors that the destruction “was not done by mistake, but by willful effort.”

Brian Pugh, an attorney representing Fain, told jurors that prosecutors must prove the men acted willfully.

What People Are Saying

John Haynes, a spokesperson for the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, told KVVU last year that the destruction was “appalling.”

He said: “It’s one of my favorite places in the park and they’re up there just destroying it. I don’t understand that.”

Haynes said that it’s “pretty difficult based on our staff levels to be everywhere all at once” so officials rely on the public to also keep watch and report destructive activity.

Ross Goodman, an attorney representing Cosper, told CNN in August: “There were no signs posted at the entrance prohibiting pushing rocks or that it was a federally a protected site. Mr. Cosper did not have any knowledge that pushing a boulder was unlawful until the U.S. Marshalls showed up [at] his house four months later.”

What’s Next

The trial is expected to last a few days.