Youth gets 10 days for vandalism

ODESSA – A drive to do some “drifting” at a gravel pit near Odessa has racked up 10 days in jail for a young man who stopped to break some windows in a loader parked at the pit. Benjamin Melgren, 19, accepted a plea deal in Lincoln County Superior Court on Aug. 18 on a charge of second degree malicious mischief. Melgren told Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputies that he had been out with a friend to do some “drifting” at the gravel pit south of Odessa on March 2 when he got out of the vehicle and threw some rocks at a loader parked there, breaking the windows. Melgren told the officer he was “just being dumb” and offered to work as a farm hand for the owner of the loader to pay off the damage.

Melgren accepted a plea deal of 10 days in jail and $1,282 in restitution.