Serpent Mound vandal's punishment: Research paper?

A 19-year-old man, accused of taking a joy ride over an ancient Native American earthwork at Serpent Mound, has confessed to the crime and agreed to pay $3,790 in restitution for damages, according to Adams County authorities and park officials.

Adams County Assistant Prosecutor Ken Armstrong says he's seriously considering seeking a healthy dose of community service – and even a research paper on the site's rich history.

"He has been cooperative, so we're working with him," Armstrong said, "But I don't think he appreciates the significance of the site, the gravity of what he's done."

Daniel Coleman Dargavell allegedly jumped the curb in the parking lot in the middle of the night over the Fourth of July weekend and attempted to drive a large white pickup over a 2,000-year-old Adena Mound.

The damage is repairable, according to Park Manager Tim Goodwin, but the act of vandalism violated the sacred grounds and has prompted a discussion about how to better protect the site.

"When you see on the video, a truck trying to climb a 9-foot Adena Mound, it ticks you off," Goodwin said.

The Ohio Historical Site called Serpent Mound is actually a series of mounds. Grounds on the site and a conical Adena Mound were damaged. The Great Serpent Mound – which is world renowned and a National Historic Landmark – was not damaged.

Torn up sod will be replaced and within a few months no one should be able to detect the tire marks that currently scar the ground, Goodwin said.

Some members of the Friends of Serpent Mound Facebook page are demanding that a caretaker be at the site all times, but right now the plan is to install more surveillance cameras, Goodwin said.

"We are looking at our standard procedure and we are getting more cameras," Goodwin said.

Acts of vandalism are rare at the site, said Goodwin, who has been park manager for about a year and a half. Roughly three years ago a group of people tried to plant crystals in the Serpent Mound in the middle of the night, Goodwin said.

"It's one of a kind, very sacred. A lot of people lay claim to it," Goodwin said.

Brad Lepper, an archeologist with the Ohio History Connection, which owns the property, said the vandalism should not set back an ongoing effort to eventually get the Serpent Mound onto the list of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's World Heritage sites.

The 1,400 foot Serpent Mound, a snake effigy believed to be built by either the Adena or Fort Ancient people thousands of years ago, is the "largest animal sculpture of any in the world," Lepper said.

"It deserves the respect of the world," Lepper said. "It should be listed alongside the pyramids of Egypt and the Great Wall of China."

In this situation, it could have been worse. The vandal fortunately did not drive over Serpent Mound, Goodwin said.

Adams County Chief Deputy John Schadle, of the county sheriff's department, said one of his detectives saw surveillance images and "put two and two together," bringing Dargavell – who has had a series of traffic citations in recent years – in for questioning last week.

"He did confess," Schadle said.

"(Serpent Mound) is a great tourist draw and has great historical significance," Schadle said. "What he did probably didn't just upset Native Americans, but the citizens of Adams County and history buffs all over the world."

Dargavell was charged with two fifth-degree felonies for vandalism.

The first for causing physical harm to a property that is used in the course of business/trade, and causing more than $1,000 in damages. The second charge, a different section of the law, is for serious physical harm to a cemetery or grave-type property, again creating more than $1,000 in damage.

Court proceedings have just begun.

Prison time – if he's found guilty – is a long shot, said Armstrong of the prosecutor's office, who is unsure whether he'll ask that Dargavell do any time.

A grand jury will hear details of the proposed charges as early as next week.

Dargavell is currently out on bond after spending a few days in jail. Multiple requests for comment to his attorney were not returned.

"Someone else, a family member likely, is going to pay the restitution up front," Armstrong said, "but I want (Dargavell) to have a significant investment in this, that would mostly be community service."

Sometimes, when things like this happen, the party that was vandalized never wants to see the vandal again, Armstrong said.

Not Serpent Mound manager Goodwin.

"In fact, they were already coming up with a list of things they want him to do," Armstrong said.

Serpent Mound a World Heritage Site?

The ancient earthworks at Serpent Mound are one of three sites in Ohio that are nominated for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization World Heritage Site status. They are three of 13 on the United States' tentative list. The other two nominees are the Dayton Aviation Sites, places where Orville and Wilbur Wright worked and lived and the field where their first sustained and controlled flights took place; and the Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks, which are "the largest concentration in the world, of prehistoric monumental landscape architecture" and includes the Fort Ancient Hilltop Enclosure, in Warren County. The Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks nomination is furthest along, according to Brad Lepper, an archaeologist with the Ohio History Connection. "It's a huge cost to develop these documents," Lepper said. "We are doing fundraising and a certain amount of lobbying. Lots of people seem to not even know what we have in our backyard." To learn more, visit www.worldheritageohio.org.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct information regarding Dargavell's past. He had been cited, and pleaded or found guilty of, a series of traffic violations.