The Associated Press
PRINEVILLE, Ore. - Using road signs for target practice is common among vandals in the West, and they don’t often get arrested. But you don’t want to go shooting up the signs the sheriff’s deputies put out.
Two teenagers were nabbed over the weekend after $800 worth of signs were blasted in the area near Wildcat Campground in the Ochoco National Forest.
It was the temporary sign that read ''Training Exercise Ahead’’ that did them in, said Sgt. Travis Jurgens of the Crook County sheriff’s office.
It was near a training site Saturday for the sheriff’s office search and rescue team.
Jurgens said it appeared the shooters didn’t know what they had taken aim at, but ''as soon as the round was touched off, it was made very apparent.’' A sheriff’s patrol car was nearby, and an officer chased the teenagers within seconds, he said.
Jace Lewis, 18, and a 17-year-old were accused of criminal mischief. Lewis also faces a reckless endangerment charge.