"Spencer" left a symbol of his love for Teena on a rock near Angels Landing in Zion National Park/Joe Braun

Social media has led to another bust in a graffiti case, this one in Zion National Park in Utah where a visitor thought previous scribbles on a rock on the path to Angels Landing made it OK for him to add his own.

It turns out that a photographer who fell in love with Zion at a young age came upon the graffiti, photographed it, and placed the photo on his Facebook page. The post caught fire, and the perpetrator, whom photographer Joe Braun had tracked down, was being inundated with hate mail.

"I have been in contact with the person who did this and they have contacted Zion's NPS to make it right. We all make mistakes and it's great when people own up to them. Please don't send any more hate mail to this person," Mr. Braun wrote the other day on his page.

Monday afternoon the park sent out a release about the incident, saying that they have been in contact with the person who left the most recent graffiti.

"The social media backlash for the perpetrator’s action has been swift and severe, prompting him to admit to the wrong-doing and cooperate fully with the on-going investigation. Criminal and civil penalties are pending," the park said.

Park law enforcement appreciate the tips that have poured in and hope that this incident will serve as a deterrent to anyone else contemplating vandalizing one of America’s treasures. Chief Ranger Daniel Fagergren encourages visitors to report any type of illegal activity occurring in the park but also asks that visitors not cross the line of taking enforcement action themselves.

Park staff cleaned the site Monday, but restoration can often be very time consuming and costly. Defacing any part of the national park or other public lands, degrades the experience for other visitors, and is an illegal act. The adages, “Take only photographs, leave only footprints,” and “Leave No Trace,” still apply in our national parks and are keys to leaving the beautiful landscape unimpaired, the park release said.

A couple years ago there was a case in which a New York City woman traveled the West and left images in acrylic paint in many parks. In 2016, Casey Nocket pleaded guilty to defacing government property, according to the National Park Service. She was sentenced to two years probation and 200 hours of community service.

According to court documents, Nocket damaged rock formations within seven national parks over a 26-day period in 2014, drawing or painting on them using acrylic paints and markers.

In a case that drew national attention, Nocket was tracked via photos on her Instagram account. National Park Service investigators confirmed that images were painted on rocks and boulders in Yosemite National Park and Death Valley National Park, both in California; Rocky Mountain National Park and Colorado National Monument, both in Colorado; Crater Lake National Park, in Oregon; and Zion National Park and Canyonlands National Park, both in Utah.

That case, by the way, was brought to light by bloggers at the Modern Hiker website who tracked the crimes via photos on an Instagram account that documented paintings scattered throughout the park system.