Harley Sherk, 25, and Darian Unrein, 19, admitted June 2 to malicious destruction of tombs and memorials, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison.

According to the criminal complaints, a caretaker at the cemetery reported several gravestones had been toppled on or about April 5 or 6.

Sherk and Unrein eventually confessed to vandalizing a total of 34 gravestones or memorials and one marble vase. The total amount of damage was estimated at more than $5,000.

Both men apologized via video Monday before they were sentenced in Dickinson County Circuit Court.

HARLEY SHERK

Sherk said he has little memory of that night after consuming marijuana gummies.

“I honestly have no idea why I allowed myself to do something so horrible,” Sherk told Circuit Judge Christopher Ninomiya, later adding, “I guess you could say I was just being dumb.”

Said Unrein, “I don’t know why we would do that; it’s pretty screwed up.” Noting he’d lost both a grandfather and grandmother, now buried under the same headstone, Unrein speculated he want to “kill” anyone who disturbed their graves.

Doing such damage in a cemetery goes beyond any other type of vandalism, Dickinson County Prosecutor Lisa Richards said, calling it “a crime against the entire community.”

“In my opinion, a grave is sacred ground,” Richards said.

She said restitution could have been much higher had the pair been responsible for loss or damage, rather than just the cost of setting the monuments back in place.

Several people who had grave markers vandalized filed victim’s statements, one saying the acts “added to the grief and pain of loss.”

Ninomiya said he initially was tempted to have both men do community service at the cemetery, so they could learn about the people interred there. But he wondered if family members would be comfortable with that.

The judge ordered both spend 11 months in jail, with Unrein credited for four days and Sherk five days already served. Both also will be on probation for four years and each must pay $7,757 in fines and costs, including $5,919 in restitution.

As bad as the offense was, “I think it is an opportunity for both of you, as strange as that seems,” Ninomiya said.

Both are young and can choose to learn and grow from their mistakes, Ninomiya said.

“This doesn’t have to define you,” the judge said.