At the Petrified Forest National Park, visitors are told, please, please don’t take a piece of the wood. Because if you do, it’ll slowly disappear. But It turns that out for the last five years, one of the park's most vocal anti-stealing opponents has been stealing from the park.
Sharon Baldwin is the park’s fee supervisor and earlier this week, she pleaded guilty to stealing entrance fees slowly over time. She also "altered electronic records and documentation to conceal the theft."
The park says that 80 percent of entrance fees get put back into the park, and so the theft had a big impact on what they could do to enhance visitor facilities.
All together Baldwin stole $313,000 over a period of about 5 years. And she is required to pay restitution equaling the entire amount that she stole.
Her sentencing is scheduled for early next year. She may also face jail time or home arrest. A spokesman for the Arizona U.S. Attorney's Office says what happens at her sentencing is entire up to the judge.