Felony charges have been filed against three Lewiston men for allegedly vandalizing ancient Indian pictographs near Lewiston’s Hells Gate State Park.
According to the Nez Perce County Sheriff’s Office, Freddie Bernal, 19, Tyler Carlson, 21, and Jerad Bovencamp, 22, have been charged with malicious injury to property for spray-paining graffiti on animal figure and geometric pictographs on the basalt wall, some believed to be 2,500 years old.
The graffiti was left sometime last month, and the damage violates the federal Archaeological Resources Protection Act of 1979.
The charges each carry a 1- to 5-year prison sentence and a fine of up to $1,000..
