Two Puna residents were fined $250 each Thursday for trespassing on county property to get close and personal to an active lava flow.
Two Puna residents were fined $250 each Thursday for trespassing on county property to get close and personal to an active lava flow.
Hilo District Judge Diana Van De Car granted a deferred acceptance of no contest pleas to 59-year-old Stephen Koch of Nanawale Estates and 65-year-old Ruth Crawford of Ainaloa.
Both will serve six months probation on the petty misdemeanor trespassing charge.
The pair were arrested Oct. 30 after entering a restricted area and sticking golf clubs and an egg beater into the lava flow. They then showed their treasures to television news cameras
A compliance hearing is scheduled for May 7, and charges against both will be erased from their records if they stay out of trouble until then.