VIDALIA — The Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office has issued citations to seven men who are allegedly responsible for damaging a portion of the parish’s levee by riding their all-terrain vehicles on them early Wednesday morning.

Cory Matthew Myers, 18, 496 Lincoln Ave.; Joseph Cruz Sontoyo II, 39, 370 D.A. Biglane Road; Zachary Dylan Sontoyo, 19, same address; Clinton Ryan Maples, 23, 704 Vidalia Drive; Edward Cody Cowan, 21, 170 Crestview Drive; Dylon Colby Jones, 20, 248 Main St. and Jordan Christopher Jones, 17, 422 Cooney Bonnett, Eros, La., were all cited for cutting or destroying levees on the Mississippi River levee just south of Vidalia near the Bunge Corporation grain elevator on Louisiana 131.

Joseph Sontoyo is the father of Zachary Sontoyo.

Court sentences call for fines of up to $5,000 or imprisonment at hard labor for up to 10 years for such a violation.

“We won’t tolerate tearing up and damaging these levees,” Sheriff Randy Maxwell said. “I really can’t imagine why anyone would do this after the critical situation of the past few weeks.”

According to reports from the CPSO, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Fifth District Levee Board representatives notified the sheriff’s office at 3:40 a.m. that men had allegedly been riding ATVs and a side-by-side Polaris Ranger on the river side of the levee.

When daylight broke, CPSO officers spotted visible ATV tracks along the permanent levee and the temporary berm that led down to the river.

One of the ATVs reportedly owned by Myers, was said to be stuck in the mud on the levee and had to be pulled out.

Maxwell said the levee board inspected the damaged area, and initial reports have indicated that no major damage occurred.

“From what I can tell they just cut the dirt and rutted it up down there,” he said.

A state statute prohibits riding vehicles on the sides of the levees year round, and in early May the levee board curtailed riding on top of the levees due to the flood conditions with the Mississippi River.

The sheriff’s office seized the five vehicles allegedly used by the men, along with an ice chest and beer.

The river sat at 55.26 feet Wednesday evening. Flood stage in Natchez is 48 feet.