5 ordered to pay $43,240 for damaging archeological site
Group from Sahuarita also sentenced to 5 years probation for graffiti
Five people from Sahuarita were ordered to pay a combined $43,240 for damaging an archeological site with spray-painted graffiti, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Wednesday.
Johnathan Lopez, 23, Andrew Magallanes, 21, Robert Norton, 23, Cynthia Norton, 20 and Vilma Curiel, 22, were sentenced by U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Marshall to five years supervised probation and each is required to pay $7,848 in restitution. A juvenile was required to pay $4,000 in restitution, said Sandy Raynor, a U.S. Attorney’s Office spokeswoman, in a press release.
All pleaded guilty on June 6, 2011, to defacing an archeological resource.
In March 2009, a U.S. Bureau of Land Management ranger found the Indian Kitchen site west of Sahuarita damaged by graffiti. Despite a cleanup effort, not all of the graffiti could be removed. The damage was estimated to exceed $40,000, Raynor said.
The area was first used by the prehistoric Hohokam Indians as a food-processing area. A large rock formation on the site contains 33 mortars that were ground into the bedrock.
The investigation was conducted by the Bureau of Land Management.
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