Authorities searching for rogue artist vandalizing national parks
For some inexplicable reason, a woman who thinks she can improve upon the beauty of nature is traveling around the United States, defacing rocks in national parks with strange portraits.
The paintbrush-wielding narcissist has hit at least 10 sites, authorities believe, including Canyonlands in Utah, Crater Lake in Oregon, and Vernal Fall in Yosemite. Her actual identity is not known, but a now-deactivated Instagram account where she once foolishly posted pictures of herself tagging rocks (featuring the signature "Creepytings") says she is a 21-year-old from New York named Casey Nocket.
"While we can't discuss details of the case under investigation, we take the issue of vandalism seriously," Jeffrey Olson, a National Park Service spokesman, told the San Francisco Chronicle. "Vandalism is not only a violation of the law, but it also damages and sometimes destroys often irreplaceable treasures that belong to all Americans. It is not only criminal, it is thoughtless."
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The woman engaged with some of her critics earlier online, and although she said she knew she shouldn't be using difficult-to-remove acrylic paint on the rocks, it was still art. The government doesn't agree, and the punishment for vandalizing a national park is a $5,000 maximum fine and a maximum one year in prison.
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Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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