Authorities searching for rogue artist vandalizing national parks

Authorities searching for rogue artist vandalizing national parks
(Image credit: Twitter.com/TorranceArt)

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, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.