Yellowstone National Park (ID,MT,WY)
Multiple ARPA Convictions
On August 3, 2002, an NPS research pilot spotted a vehicle hundreds
of yards off-road near the park's north boundary. As the pilot watched,
the vehicle returned to the road and parked a short distance away along
the boundary. Mammoth Subdistrict patrol ranger Doug Beringer located
the occupants and escorted them back to the spot where the vehicle had
originally been seen. The driver was subsequently identified as
R.E.S., 52, of Spokane, Washington. Rangers saw hundreds of
pounds of rocks, plants, wood and several archeological artifacts in
plain view in the back of the vehicle. R.E.S. initially insisted that
the materials came from western Montana, but confessed to collecting
many of the items in the park when confronted with two facts - that he
was in possession of a Yellowstone elk antler previously marked by
Beringer and that his off-road vehicle tracks lead directly to several
fresh holes in the ground that appeared to be missing some of the same
rocks and artifacts that were in his vehicle. During the interview,
R.E.S. repeatedly insisted that he was an incidental rock collector
who knew little about archeology. Rangers found that he had
approximately 150 mineral, archeological and plant items weighing about
150 pounds in his possession. Several attempts to identify R.E.S.
while at the scene were unsuccessful, so he was taken into custody for
booking and positive identification. The federal magistrate-judge opted
to hold him over the weekend for an initial appearance, after which
R.E.S. was released on a $2,000 cash bond. During the course of the
follow-up investigation, park staff were able to positively associate
dozens of the items with areas from throughout the park, and also
learned that R.E.S. had significant previous knowledge of archeology.
On August 9, a federal ARPA search warrant was served on the Spokane,
Washington, home where R.E.S. lives. Approximately 1,000 artifacts
were located in the residence and documented. The search did not reveal
evidence that positively linked the artifacts in the home to public
lands, however, preventing them from being legally seized as evidence.
Rangers, agents, officers and archeologists from Yellowstone, Joshua
Tree, Lake Roosevelt, Olympic, the Spokane County Sheriff's Department,
and the BIA assisted in the warrant service. Special agent Todd Swain
provided instrumental assistance to Yellowstone agents during the course
of the investigation. On January 7, R.E.S. entered a guilty plea to
one misdemeanor ARPA count and numerous 36 CFR counts, including
possessing/disturbing plants, possessing/disturbing mineral resources,
possessing wood, and off-road travel. R.E.S. was sentenced to two
years probation, banned from entering Yellowstone National Park for five
years, and ordered to pay $150 dollars in fines and $1,000 in
restitution. As a result of this case, Beringer focused patrol efforts
along the north boundary area and made two additional ARPA cases in the
same area within two months. On September 1, R.D.R., 36, of
Gardiner, Montana, was charged with a misdemeanor ARPA violation and a
CFR mineral resource violation after he was contacted by Beringer and
found to be in possession of 100 mineral items and archeological
artifacts. On September 25, R.D.R. pled guilty to both charges; he
was sentenced to a year's probation and ordered to pay $200 in fines and
$900 in restitution. On September 15, J.L.W., 46, of Marysville,
Washington, was charged with a misdemeanor ARPA violation and a CFR
mineral resource violation. When Beringer contacted her, she had 227
mineral items and archeological artifacts in her possession. On
September 17, J.L.W. plead guilty to both charges before and was
sentenced to a year's probation and ordered to pay $700 in fines and
$700 in restitution. The last two cases came about because the ranger
became suspicious of their activities when seeing their respective
vehicles in the same area. Consent interviews and searches led to the
charges. Although the majority of the artifacts in these cases were
worked flakes, the prosecutor and magistrate-judge strongly supported
the park's ARPA enforcement efforts.
[Submitted by Chris Fors,
Special Agent, Branch of Law Enforcement Services]
OPERATIONAL NOTES
Office of Policy
Proposed Rule on Blood Alcohol Limit Published
The National Park Service today published a proposed rule that will reduce the legal blood alcohol limit for operating a motor vehicle from .10 to .08. No other provisions of the DUI regulation were amended at this time. If you have any comments on the rule, contact Kym Hall at either Kym_Hall@nps.gov or WASO_Regulations@nps.gov.
[Submitted by Kym Hall]
Submission standards for the Morning Report can be found on the left side of the front page of InsideNPS. All reports should be submitted via email to Bill Halainen at Delaware Water Gap NRA, with a copy to your regional office and a copy to Dennis Burnett in Division of Law Enforcement and Emergency Services, WASO.
Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement and Emergency Services, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.