Roundhouse vandal gets probation

Bryon Glathar, Herald Managing Editor
Posted 1/31/18

Man sentenced for vandalizing Evanston Roundhouse

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Roundhouse vandal gets probation

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EVANSTON — One of the two men responsible for causing nearly $70,000 in damage to the Evanston Roundhouse last summer pleaded guilty and was sentenced earlier this month in Third District Court.

Nineteen-year-old Dominic Burgess was sentenced to two to five years in prison, though the prison sentence was suspended. Burgess will instead be on supervised probation for three years and pay a handful of fees, including his share of $6,213.08 in restitution.

James E. Nordwall, 23, pleaded not guilty to felony property destruction. He has a hearing scheduled for March 2.

Uinta County Attorney Loretta Howieson said she and others, including Mayor Kent Williams, spoke at the Jan. 11 sentencing in favor of probation rather than prison time for Burgess.

“Oftentimes we would likely provide a first offender deferral for a [19-year-old] with a property crime,” Howieson said in an email to the Herald. “Some factors (in the sentencing) were his age, lack of any prior criminal history, and that he’d returned to high school in South Dakota to finish his education.”

Williams did not respond to questions sent to him in an email Friday, but Howieson said the mayor “spoke of forgiveness and that he believed that a person could change.”

It’s fair to say Williams himself changed since the morning the vandalism was discovered, Aug. 30, 2017. On that emotional day, Williams told the Herald, “I hope whomever did this is found and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

A tearful Jane Law, Urban Renewal Coordinator and Main Street Manager, perhaps summed up the collective feeling as city officials looked over the damage that morning.

“This is just heartbreaking,” she said. “Everything that has been done here has been done for this community, so for people to do something like this hurts everyone.”

The damage, which totaled $67,532, was discovered when facilities personnel arrived at the Roundhouse, which was at the time undergoing restoration on the side opposite the vandalism.

According to court documents, Burgess and Nordwall each confessed to the crimes, as well as other vandalisms around town earlier that morning. They allegedly tipped over port-a-potties at the Bear Ice Ponds, threw rocks and pieces of concrete at the Rice King building on Bear River Drive and broke a camper window on their way downtown.

According to court documents, the two eventually made it to the Roundhouse and threw large rocks through several windows near the main entrance for 30-45 minutes, breaking windows and frames and even damaging the concrete and drywall inside the building.

Evanston City Clerk Amy Grenfell said materials and labor to temporarily board up the damaged windows cost $1,213. The new windows, casing and trim cost $44,724, and installation labor totaled $13,800. However, the city’s deductible for its insurance policy is just $5,000, and the city should recover that from restitution.