Goblin Valley Vandals Ejected from Boy Scouts, Stripped of Leadership Titles

The adult Boy Scout members linked with vandalizing a 200-million-year-old rock formation at Goblin Valley State Park in Utah have been removed from their leadership positions within the scouting organization and are no longer members of the Boy Scouts of America amid an ongoing criminal investigation.

By filming themselves toppling a rock formation that had stood in place since the Jurassic period, David Hall and Glenn Taylor, effectively made the mistake of a lifetime.

The Utah National Parks Council, which oversees Boy Scout activities in the state, did not name the men, but said in a statement Monday that "based on the actions of the individuals involved with the Goblin Valley incident, the Utah National Parks Council has removed them from their leadership positions in the Boy Scouts of America."

Shortly after, the Boy Scouts of America issued its own statement: "After reviewing this matter with the local chartered organization, these men have been removed from their leadership positions and are no longer members of the BSA."

In the video, the men claim the rock -- technically known as a hoodoo, and colloquially referred to as a goblin -- was just hours away from falling. They cited concern over the hoodoo suddenly falling onto an unaware passerby, then took matters into their own hands and accelerated the natural flow of events by pushing the hoodoo over.

The men were in high spirits as the camera began to roll and the mood elevated to jubilant after the hoodoo came crashing to the ground.

But the neither the men's mood or sentiment was matched by authorities.

Utah State Parks director Fred Hayes told NPR last week that he did not believe the rock was presenting an imminent danger to anybody.

Eugene Swalberg, a spokesman for Utah State Parks, told the Salt Lake Tribune last week that the men would face consequences and that a criminal investigation is underway.

"This is highly, highly inappropriate," he said. "This is not what you do at state parks. It's disturbing and upsetting."

Mushroom-shaped hoodoos are formed due to a difference in the composition of rock; the bottom layer of the hoodoo erodes over time, dwindling down to just a narrow sliver supporting the much larger, slower eroding rock on the top.

After the celebratory video -- which was filmed by Hall and featured Taylor pushing over the hoodoo -- went viral last week, the reaction from the public, the media and the Boy Scouts was harsh and swift. Hall said he has received hundreds of death threats online. The men were condemned by a laundry list of organizations, including the National Boy Scouts of America and the Utah National Parks Council. A third person is featured in the video; that person is reportedly Taylor's son, Dylan.

The decision to strip the men of their leadership roles and eject them from the scouting organization came over the weekend after park authorities, the Utah attorney general's office and officials from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which sponsors most Boy Scout troops in Utah, met to discuss the situation, according to the Salt Lake Tribune.

The incident in currently under investigation by the Utah Division of State Parks and Recreation. There is no information on when or if criminal charges will be filed.

Taylor may find himself in additional hot water because of the video. In September he reportedly filed a personal injury lawsuit stemming from a 2009 traffic accident in which he states the accident caused "debilitating" injuries, Utah news station KUTV reported.

Critics were quick to point out that Taylor does not seem at all debilitated in the video where he singlehandedly pushes over the giant rock.