Video shows 2 men destroying an ancient formation at Lake Mead. Now they will go to trial

A pair of men will face a federal trial in connection with the destruction of ancient rock formations at Lake Mead National Recreation Area in an incident apparently caught on video in April.

Wyatt Clifford, 37, and Payden David Guy Cosper, 31, both of Henderson, Nev., were indicted by a federal grand jury on suspicion of causing damage exceeding $1,000 at the national park, which encompasses parts of Nevada and Arizona, according to an Aug. 23 news release from the U.S. Department of Justice. The two men were arrested by the U.S. Marshals Service, and each is charged with one count of injury and depredation of government property and one count of aiding and abetting, according to the Justice Department.

While on or near the Redstone Dunes Trail, Clifford and Cosper pushed large chunks of the rock formations over a cliff's edge onto the ground below, the Justice Department detailed.

"Two idiots destroying what nature created over thousands of years in front of screaming girl," read an Instagram caption of a cell phone video showing a pair of men on April 7 deliberately pushing the top of the rock formation down a narrow canyon and making rubble of it.

The National Parks Service searched for the desecrating duo since April, The Arizona Republic reported .

"The fiery eroded formations on this trail were once part of a vast desert landscape. The dunes responsible for these formations existed one hundred forty million years ago. Over time, geological forces turned the loose dunes into hard sandstone," a description of the formation by the National Parks Service stated.

Approximately 8 million recreational visits are made to the national recreation area each year, with Arizona tourists among its primary visitors, according to the National Parks Service .

Clifford and Cosper have made an initial court appearance and a jury trial in federal court is scheduled for Oct. 8, according to the news release. They face up to 10 years in prison if convicted, the Justice Department added.

A pair of men in 2014 received a year of probation and fines for knocking down a 170-million-year-old formation at Utah's Goblin Valley State Park the year before, according to the Associated Press . David Hall and Glenn Taylor, then in their 40s, were stripped of their positions within the Boy Scouts following the incident, which had been filmed and uploaded onto YouTube.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Video shows 2 men destroying an ancient formation at Lake Mead. Now they will go to trial