Video shows Sedona rock vandalism

A tourist’s video has pushed a new case of rock vandalism in Sedona into wide circulation after footage showed four young men carving graffiti into Cathedral Rock, one of the best-known red-rock sites outside the city. Sedona Red Rock News reported that the witness recorded the group at about 10 a.m. on May 20 near the first bench on the trail southwest of Sedona city limits. The witness said the men appeared to be writing on the sandstone in plain view and did not stop after noticing they were being filmed. Sedona Red Rock News published the account on May 22, and local television later aired the footage. ### Where did the vandalism happen? Cathedral Rock sits in Coconino National Forest, southwest of Sedona, and is one of the area’s most photographed formations. Sedona Red Rock News said the video was taken on the Cathedral Rock trail, where a tourist had stopped near the first bench and saw the group scratching the rock face. The witness told Sedona Red Rock News that the men were “pretty loud about it” and “laughing and joking the whole time.” The same account said they were “not trying to hide what they were doing at all” and appeared to keep carving after seeing the camera. ### What does the video show? Sedona Red Rock News said the footage consists of three clips — one vertical and two horizontal clips that were rotated and edited together. (redrocknews.com) FOX 10 Phoenix, which aired the video on May 21, said it showed four men vandalizing Cathedral Rock outside Sedona. One of the men was described by the newspaper as wearing a black hat reading “TCU” in a style matching the Texas Christian University logo. (redrocknews.com) Sedona Red Rock News said that detail was included only as a possible identifier and did not establish any connection to the school. ### Who is handling the case? The witness contacted the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office and the Red Rock Ranger Station after recording the incident, according to Sedona Red Rock News. (redrocknews.com) The sheriff’s office lists a public telephone number of 928-771-3260, and the U.S. Forest Service lists the Red Rock Ranger District in Sedona as the office responsible for that part of Coconino National Forest. FOX 10 Phoenix said viewers with information were asked to contact the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office. Sedona Red Rock News also directed tipsters to Silent Witness and published additional Red Rock Ranger District contact numbers. ### What law could apply to carving on the rock? Sedona Red Rock News said vandalizing a rock face in the national forest is a federal offense under 36 C.F.R. sections 261.2 and 261.9. (redrocknews.com) The paper quoted the regulation barring damage to “any natural feature or other property of the United States” and said penalties can range from a Class B misdemeanor to more serious charges depending on the case. Friends of the Forest Sedona, a volunteer group that works with the Red Rock Ranger District, says Cathedral Rock is among the sites that regularly require graffiti cleanup. The group says volunteers typically remove more than 1,000 graffiti occurrences in a year across affected public-land sites. ### Has Sedona dealt with this before? (redrocknews.com) Sedona Red Rock News pointed to a 2016 case involving actress Vanessa Hudgens, who paid restitution after carving initials into a rock in Coconino National Forest. The paper used that example to underscore that carving names or initials into Sedona’s sandstone can bring law-enforcement action. The next public step is likely to be identification of the four men shown in the May 20 footage. (friendsoftheforestsedona.org) As of the published reports reviewed here, Sedona Red Rock News and FOX 10 Phoenix were directing anyone with information to the Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office and the Red Rock Ranger District. (redrocknews.com)