Tumalo Falls vandalism case ‘resolved’ with ticket, fine

A case of vandalism at Tumalo Falls last May that led to an encounter and viral Facebook posting led to an investigation that has now been resolved by a ticket, a fine and restitution, federal authorities said Wednesday.

But they aren’t saying much more than that, saying details of federal tickets are not public record.

The U.S. Forest Service investigated the May 2 vandalism incident in which family members scratched names into a metal railing, said U.S. Department of Justice spokeswoman Gerri Badden.

The agency “issued a federal ticket for the violation, and referred the matter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” Badden said in a brief news release.

“A fine was assessed and restitution was paid for the U.S. Forest Service to repair the railing,” they said. “The citation is now resolved.”

“The details of the federal ticket are not public record,” the agency said, “and no further information will be provided.”

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Our May story on the incident:

Brett Nelson was hiking the Tumalo Falls trail on Saturday when he saw a dad with his two children as they were etching their names into a metal railing.

“So I asked the boy, ‘Are you really going to etch your name into that rail?’ and he said, ‘Yes,” Nelson told NewsChannel 21 on Monday.

Nelson said he talked to the dad, with little success.

“All I wanted for him to do is tell them to stop and say it is wrong, and it was the complete opposite,” Nelson said.

That’s when he took their photo and posted it on his Facebook page.

Within two days, the photo was shared over 30,000 times on Facebook.

“It’s absolutely crazy,” Nelson said.

The Forest Service learned about the incident as people were sharing the picture on their Facebook page.

“We take this very seriously,” said Kassidy Kern, public affairs specialist with the Deschutes National Forest.

The Forest Service is investigating the case. Vandalizing a natural resource or an federal property is punishable with a fine of up to $5,000 or six months in jail.

“Metal rail or not, this is still considered the property of the United States,” Kern said.

The Forest Service encourages to help raise awareness of vandalism in public parks.

“Kudos to (Brett Nelson) for bringing this to our attention,” Kern said.

Nelson said, “All I was doing is what everybody else would have done.”