Pair sentenced for destruction

BOISE (AP) - Two Bellevue residents convicted of destroying part of a historic central Idaho mine have been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for the crime.

U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge also ordered 37-year-old Russell Nuxoll and 51-year-old Janet Sylten to each pay more than $61,000 in restitution and spend three years on probation after they complete their prison terms.

Prosecutors accused the pair of looting the Snoose Mine, located two miles west of Hailey and listed as an official archaeological site, to sell the pre-World War II timbers of the head frame and ore bin to a timber recycling business. A jury acquitted the two of a charge of stealing government property, but convicted them of destruction of government property.