FWP Officials Capture Graffiti Vandal Fleeing out a Back Window

Sierra Kay Fisher was arrested recently by wardens with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks after allegedly causing thousands of dollars in damages by painting graffiti on restrooms, trees, rocks and other locations at public site around northwest Montana.

Regional Education and Program Manager Dillon Tabish has the story.

“We had some really unfortunate vandalism occurring at our fishing access sites across the Flathead Valley and then even across Montana and some other places with some very similar type of graffiti that was just marking up restrooms, outhouses, rocks, trees, just some really unfortunate damage being done to these public sites,” said Tabish.

Tabish said the game wardens in the area finally had enough of the graffiti damage and decided to investigate the matter.

“Our game wardens take all of these infractions very seriously and investigate them but especially this one, this one there were so many sites involved,” he said. “Our game wardens just said enough is enough. We're going to figure this out and solve this case and led by our game warden up here in Kalispell, Chris Nye, they began investigating it.”

Partly because the tagger left her initials on her work, Tabish said they finally had a clue to follow.

“They began investigating it and through just some really good hard work they were able to identify a suspect who lived up here in the Flathead,” he said. “They went to speak with her and she tried to flee out a window, but our game wardens captured her and were able to talk to her and collect some evidence, and she ended up fessing up to it.”

Fisher has been charged with felony criminal mischief.

Tabish said the FWP appreciates any tips that the public can provide to help bring vandals like this to justice.

“Really, I think the story here is just these public sites really take a lot of abuse and it costs us money,” he said. “This costs us money that we could be spending on kid’s fishing events and other great access opportunities for hunters and anglers, but instead, we have to spend money sometimes cleaning up these sites and the issues that pop up with them. It's just really unfortunate and we really need the public to realize these are your resources. These are your sites and we need your help to police these areas and take care of them.”

Anyone with possible information about crimes involving fish and wildlife resources and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks sites is encouraged to call FWP’s 24-hour hotline 1-800-TIP-MONT (1-800-847-6668). Callers can remain anonymous and may be eligible for a reward up to $1,000 for providing information that leads to a conviction.