Man convicted of tampering and vandalism at Michigan National Lakeshore

(CBS) – A Michigan man convicted of diverting the natural course of the Platte River at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore has been 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 court costs. Howard was also barred from all Park Service property.

Officials said on August 15, 2022, Howard dug sediment and rock out of the basin and stacked stones on a dam to block the natural flow of water and divert the water into a recently constructed canal to Lake Michigan.

After receiving the reports, National Park Service officers discovered a diversion near the mouth of the river.

“Mr. Howard had a political dispute with the National Park Service over whether to dredge the Platte River. Reasonable people can disagree about the best course of action, but Congress has given the NPS the power to make decisions,” U.S. Attorney Mark Totten said in a statement. “While Mr. Howard had the right to disagree and to hold his position, he did not have the right to take the law into his own hands and force his preferred outcome. Doing so was a misdemeanor, and this ruling holds Mr. Howard liable for his misdemeanor.”