The San Miguel County Sheriff’s Office is offering two $500 rewards for information on “punk-ass” vandals terrorizing southwestern Colorado.
After a former sergeant from the sheriff’s office discovered over the weekend that someone had graffitied the old mine and mill in Tomboy Basin — a historic site five miles east of Telluride — the sheriff took to social media.
“Sheriff (Bill) Masters is offering a $500 reward to anyone who has information leading to an arrest of the ‘punk-ass clown’ who did this,” the sheriff’s office wrote in a post on Facebook, asking anyone with information to call dispatch at 970-728-1911.
Sheriff’s officials believe the vandalism happened sometime within the past month, and the sergeant just happened to be hiking in the area over the weekend when he spotted it, sheriff’s department spokesperson Susan Lilly said.
Lilly said they’d received no tips or leads yet, but that she hoped the social media traffic would lead deputies to a suspect.
The next morning, the “punk-asses” were at it again, this time tying a wire across two trees on the Wilson Mesa trail, the sheriff’s department said on social media.
Wilson Mesa trail is on U.S. Forest Service land and is often used for hiking, horseback riding and mountain biking. The trail is also open to motorcycles from July 1 through Labor Day.
“The deputies removed the wire but believe this egregious act could happen again and would like people in the area to exercise caution,” the social media post stated.
The sheriff’s office is offering another $500 reward for information leading to the arrest of those involved.
As of Wednesday morning, deputies hadn’t seen another wire hung in the area, but people should remain cautious, Lilly said.
“Clearly, this individual wants to cause harm and injure someone,” Lilly said. “If he’s done it once, it could happen again. … It’s very dangerous, and could easily cause serious injury or worse.”
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Originally Published: July 3, 2024 at 10:12 a.m.
