A social media content creator applauded a July 16 ruling that overturned a criminal charge against him, saying the case was based on outlandish claims that would have set a dangerous precedent.
David Lesh, owner of outerwear company Virtika, was convicted on two charges in 2022 after he made a post on his personal account that depicted an individual snowmobiling over a jump in a terrain park at Keystone Resort when the property was closed. The U.S. government charged him with trespassing and conducting unauthorized work activity on national forest land.
A district court concluded that Lesh was “taking photographs to promote a clothing line, which is unquestionably work activity,” according to court documents. But Lesh challenged the rulings, and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver, on July 16, agreed with his arguments related to the unauthorized work activity crime, saying Lesh’s conviction “must be reversed” because “the regulation does not fairly warn social media users that posting images on the internet could constitute a federal crime with imprisonment up to six months.”
Lesh, in an interview following the Tenth Circuit decision, said he agreed that such a charge cannot stand in this day and age.
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