(1) (a) Any person who destroys, defaces, removes, or damages any historical monument commits the crime of defacing property.
Any person who defaces or causes, aids in, or permits the defacing of public orprivate property without the consent of the owner by any method of defacement, including but not limited to painting, drawing, writing, or otherwise marring the surface of the property by use of paint, spray paint, ink, or any other substance or object, commits the crime of defacing property.
(I) Any person who, with regard to a cave that is public property or the property ofanother, knowingly performs any of the following acts without the consent of the owner commits the crime of defacing property:
Breaking or damaging any lock, fastening, door, or structure designed to enclose orprotect any such cave;
Defacing, damaging, or breaking from any part of such cave any cave resource; or(C) Removing from such cave any cave resource.
(II) For purposes of this section:
"Cave" means any naturally occurring void, cavity, recess, lava tube, or system ofinterconnected passages that occurs beneath the surface of the earth or within a cliff or ledge, including any cave resource therein, but not including any mine, tunnel, aqueduct, or other artificial excavation, and that is large enough to permit an individual to enter, regardless of whether the entrance is naturally formed or has been artificially created or enlarged. "Cave" includes any natural pit, sinkhole, or other feature that is an extension of the entrance.
"Cave resource" includes any material or substance occurring naturally in caves, such as animal life, plant life, paleontological deposits, sediments, minerals, speleogens, and speleothems.
(B.5) "Juvenile" shall have the same meaning as set forth in section 19-1-103 (68), C.R.S.
"Speleogen" means relief features on the walls, ceiling, or floor of any cave that arepart of the surrounding rock, including, but not limited to, anastomoses, scallops, meander niches, petromorphs, and rock pendants in solution caves and similar features unique to volcanic caves.
"Speleothem" means any natural mineral formation or deposit occurring in a cave,including, but not limited to, any stalactite, stalagmite, helictite, cave flower, flowstone, concretion, drapery, rimstone, or formation of clay or mud.
(2) (a) (I) Defacing property is a class 2 misdemeanor; except that:
A second or subsequent conviction for the offense of defacing property is a class 1 misdemeanor and the court shall impose a mandatory minimum fine of seven hundred fifty dollars upon conviction; and
If a person violates paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section twice or morewithin a period of six months, the damages caused by two or more of the violations may be aggregated and charged in a single count, in which event the violations so aggregated and charged shall constitute a single offense, and, if the aggregate damages are five hundred dollars or more, it is a class 1 misdemeanor and the court shall impose a mandatory minimum fine of seven hundred fifty dollars upon conviction.
In sentencing a person who violates this section, the court has discretion to imposealternatives in sentencing as described in part 1 of article 1.3 of this title, including but not limited to restorative justice practices, as defined in section 18-1-901 (3)(o.5), or in the case of a juvenile offender, to impose restorative justice, as defined in section 19-1-103 (94.1), C.R.S.
The court may suspend all or part of the mandatory minimum fine associated with aconviction under this section upon the offender's successful completion of any sentence alternative imposed by the court pursuant to subparagraph (II) of this paragraph (a).
Fifty percent of the fines collected pursuant to this paragraph (a) shall be credited tothe highway users tax fund, created in section 43-4-201, C.R.S., and allocated and expended as specified in section 43-4-205 (5.5)(a), C.R.S., and fifty percent of the fines collected pursuant to this paragraph (a) shall be credited to the juvenile diversion cash fund created in section 19-2303.5, C.R.S.; except that the fines collected pursuant to paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of this section shall be credited to the Colorado travel and tourism promotion fund created in section 24-49.7-106, C.R.S.
(b) Any person convicted of defacing property pursuant to paragraph (b) or (c) of subsection (1) of this section shall be ordered by the court to personally make repairs to any property damaged, or properties similarly damaged, if possible. If the property cannot be repaired, the court shall order a person convicted of defacing property to replace or compensate the owner for the damaged property but may, in the case of a violation of paragraph (b) of subsection (1) of this section, limit such compensation to two thousand five hundred dollars. (c) Repealed.
Source: L. 71: R&RE, p. 431, § 1. C.R.S. 1963: § 40-4-509. L. 89: (2) R&RE, p. 875, § 10, effective June 5. L. 93: (2) amended, p. 1732, § 20, effective July 1. L. 94: (2) amended, p. 1463, § 2, effective July 1. L. 97: (2) amended, p. 1536, § 2, effective July 1. L. 2003: Entire section amended, p. 1903, § 1, effective July 1. L. 2004: (1)(c) added and (2) amended, pp. 69, 70, §§ 1, 2, effective August 4. L. 2005: (2)(a) amended, p. 140, § 3, effective April 5. L. 2009: (2)(c) repealed, (HB 09-1266), ch. 347, p. 1814, § 2, effective August 5. L. 2011: (1)(c)(II)(B.5) added and (2)(a) amended, (SB 11-256), ch. 254, pp. 1101, 1099, §§ 3, 1, effective August 10.