Punishment fits crime for Ohio couple who went rafting during flood emergency

(CBS/AP) PAINESVILLE, Ohio - When it comes to making the punishment fit the crime, you have to give a northeast Ohio judge big points for creativity.

A couple who went rafting on a swollen Grand River river during a flood emergency was sentenced to stand in a tiny swimming pool while wearing life jackets, and hand out water safety brochures.

Twenty-year-old Grace Nash and 22-year-old Bruce Crawford pleaded guilty to misdemeanor misconduct during an emergency. Searchers spent hours looking for them last month after they were spotted on the river. They made it to land but lied to an official about being in the water.

The couple was floating about without life preservers, and lied about the whole thing afterward.

They did their penance Saturday - standing in a little swimming pool, wearing life jackets, and passing out those water safety brochures at a festival in Painesville, 30 miles northeast of Cleveland.

They chose the pool punishment and community service over 60 days in jail.