(CBS DETROIT) – A Michigan man convicted of diverting the natural flow of the Platte River at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore was sentenced to five years’ probation for vandalism and tampering.
Andrew Blair Howard, 63, was ordered to pay the National Park Service and the U.S. Coast Guard $22,472.22 in restitution and $3,947.71 in related legal fees. Howard was also banned from all Park Service property.
Officials said that on August 15, 2022, Howard dug sediment and rocks from the basin and piled rocks on a dam to block the natural flow of water and divert it to a recently constructed canal to Lake Michigan.
After receiving reports, National Park Service law enforcement officers discovered a diversion near the mouth of the river.
“Mr. Howard had a policy conflict with the National Park Service over whether to dredge the Platte River. Reasonable people can disagree about the best course of action, but Congress gave the NPS the power to decide,” the U.S. said attorney Mark Totten in a statement. . “While Mr. Howard had the right to disagree and argue for his position, he had no right to take the law into his own hands and enforce his preferred outcome. That was a crime, and this sentence holds Mr. Howard accountable for his wrongdoing.”
