Police make arrest in Camas Cemetery vandalism case

A 21-year-old Camas man was arrested Thursday on charges relating to vandalism at the Camas Cememtery.

Following a police investigation, Michael Garwood was arrested and booked into the Clark County Jail on 15 counts of violating laws governing the protection of cemeteries and one count of second degree malicious mischief.

According to a press release, there may be additional suspects. The investigation is ongoing.

The Camas Police Department was alerted to the vandalism on Wednesday. Approximately 16 headstones, many of them in the southeast “Pioneer Section” of the cemetery, had been toppled over and broken.

The cemetery is owned, maintained and operated by the city of Camas. The public works department is currently working on getting the headstones repaired.

The cemetery was plotted in 1885 by the Camas Colony Company. The Camas Cemetery Association operated the cemetery for more than 80 years before transferring ownership and operation of the 30-acre facility back to the city in 2007.

Throughout its history, several local cemeteries incorporated their graves into the Camas Cemetery, including the Camas Catholic Cemetery, and the Dead Lake and Fallen Leaf cememteries.

Anyone with information about the incident should call the Camas police at 834-4151.