Above:  A victim of child abuse (not the same one mentioned in the blog).

A Barstow couple was sentenced to life in prison for torturing the man’s 3-year-old son to death.

It isn’t clear why the couple did what they did, but when police found the boy he was dead with extensive external and internal injuries.  And get this … it was the child’s birthday.  This was back in 2006.

Well, they got their punishment.  From the Desert Dispatch, “on Thursday Judge Steve Mapes at the Barstow courthouse sentenced Thomas Othy Darthart, 27 and Moy Yamill Ellis, 32 to life in prison without possibility of parole for the murder of Thomas Timothy Fredric Darthart. The couple also received 25 years to life for assault on a child resulting in death, seven years to life for torture and ten years for child abuse resulting in death.”

Above: Petroglyphs at Inscription Canyon.  Desert Dog Joe Perry took a trip to Inscription Canyon last weekend, and found massive vandalism – the barrier to the canyon was taken down and petroglyph panels taken out.

Dear desertphiles and archaeology lovers,

There’s a growing problem in the desert.  It involves the vandalism of rock art, some of which are many thousands of years old.

Most recently, in Inscription Canyon someone has knocked down the barrier to the canyon, drove into the canyon with offroad vehicles, and removed entire panels of rock art.

Desert Dog Joe Perry is the one who spotted this last weekend (the weekend of March 20th).  Joe also said, “I ran across a motorcyclist who saw two trucks about 2 weeks ago with people actually carrying large rocks, (panels?) and loading them into trucks.   The motorcyclist got a partial description, but said they were armed so he just split the scene.”

The motorcyclist said that approximately 2 weeks earlier he saw 2 trucks, one a later model RAM and the other an older model Ford. There was maybe one or two middle to late age Caucasians, several young men, and a few younger women.  They were observed carrying large rocks (panels?) out of the canyon and loading them into their trucks. In addition, they were seen shooting into the canyon.   It’s possible they were local tweekers, but selling this kind of stuff would be difficult, except for the black market.  However, they might have thought these would be a nice decoration for their homes.  Either way, this sort of vandalism carries severe penalties.  A first-time conviction of archaeological site vandalism carries a fine of up to $20,000 or two years in jail.  Any other convictions entail a $100,000 fine or five years imprisonment.

Those of us who care ought to hook up with the BLM archaeologist for the area we visit the most.  In the case of the Barstow area where Inscription Canyon is, the archaeologist is Jim Shearer.  Ask the archaeologist if you can be a site steward for a particular area of the desert that you enjoy.  You can reach archaeologists for your area by calling the BLM at  (202) 452-5125.

We can also get involved with the California Archaeological Site Steward Program (CASSP).

You know me.  I like to keep it reasonable.  But when it comes to the vandalism of ancient treasures, I really think we should be more vigilant.

And of course, if anyone knows about the perpetrators of this crime, let us know or better yet call the Barstow Police Department at (760) 255-5111.

- Andrew Perry

Barstow Mayor Joe Gomez showed up at Monday’s City Council meeting, declaring in front of council that the allegations are false.

To be fair, he has not been proven guilty.  And public figures (like mayors) are commonly accused of wrongdoing.

“Gomez also explained that he decided to remain silent last week to allow the authorities to investigate the matter. He said that on advice on his attorney, he would not be making any further public comments about the allegations.” (quoted from The Desert Dispatch).

I wonder what I would do if someone accused me of something like that. I think I’d do the same thing Mayor Gomez is doing: stay calm and allow the investigation to be carried out.

So mayor, it’s reasonable to assume you are innocent. Are we not merciful?