Damaging state park property
This law is about protecting state parks. A person breaks this law if they litter in a state park, pollute any spring, pool, or stream there, damage or remove plants growing there, or take or destroy historical or archaeological objects from a state park. Only authorized park workers are allowed to do those things to plants or historical objects. Breaking this law is usually a class C misdemeanor, but it becomes a class A misdemeanor if the damage puts someone at risk of getting hurt or their property damaged, or if the person has broken this same law before.
Classifications stated in the statute. Actual outcomes vary.
577.073. Damaging state park property — penalties. — 1. A person commits the of damaging state park property if he or she:
(1) places or paper, tin cans, bottles, or of any kind within a state park;
(2) Contaminates, in any manner, any spring, pool, or stream within a state park;
(3) Cuts, prunes, picks, defaces, or injures, in any manner, the flowers, trees, shrubs, or any other growing on the land or in the water of any state park except as performed or directed by personnel of the of natural resources; or
(4) Removes, injures, disfigures, defaces, or destroys an object of or historical value or interest within a state park except as performed or directed by authorized personnel of the department of natural resources.
2. The offense of damaging state park property is a , unless:
(1) Such damage creates a substantial risk of or property damage to another; or
(2) The has previously been of a violation of this section or an offense committed in another which, if committed in this state, would be a violation under this section, in which case it is a .
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Source & history notes
(L. 1961 p. 332 §§ 1, 2, A.L. 2012 H.B. 1251 merged with S.B. 719, A.L. 2014 S.B. 491) Effective 1-01-17
Legal information, not legal advice. Always confirm with the official source at revisor.mo.gov.