NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

BLACKBERRY EDITION

Thursday, August 17, 2006

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INCIDENTS

Badlands NP

Five Outlaw Motorcycle Gang Members Arrested

On August 12th, rangers stopped an extended cab pickup towing a motorcycle trailer for a minor traffic offense. The ranger who approached the truck was not aware that it contained five heavily-armed members of the Outlaws motorcycle gang who had just left the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. This year's rally was overshadowed by a growing rivalry and conflict between the Hells Angels and the Outlaws. Fears of a conflict between the two gangs were confirmed on August 6th, when five Outlaws and one non-affiliated gang member were shot near Legion Lake in Custer State Park in the southern Black Hills. Two members of the Hells Angels were arrested for the shooting and are currently in custody on $5 million bond each. As the ranger walked up along the driver's side of the pickup, she saw a man sitting in the truck bed. Unknown to her, he had his hand on a loaded 9mm semi-automatic pistol that was hidden behind his back. Following a short exchange with him, she advanced to the open driver's window and contacted the driver. A routine check on his license came back with an advisory, warning that the driver was a member of an outlaw motorcycle gang and should be considered armed and dangerous. Sensing trouble, a ranger and a BIA officer - both in plain clothes - backed her up on the stop. Together, they quickly recovered one concealed weapon and evidence of illegal drug use. Additional rangers and officers from the South Dakota Highway Patrol and Pennington County Sheriff's Office also responded. The remaining occupants of the truck were called out of the vehicle and secured. Eight firearms, including one pistol-grip shotgun, were found in the truck. All five - four men and one woman - were found to either be in possession of or had rapid and immediate access to firearms. Methamphetamine and numerous blunt, cutting and electrical weapons were also recovered. State and federal authorities have shown great interest in this case because numerous ledgers and business files were also seized in the search. The five gang members - M.A.N., C.G., C.W., D.N. and S.G., all from Florida - made their initial appearance in federal court this past Monday. With the strong support of the South Dakota Department of Criminal Investigations and the South Dakota State Attorneys Office, efforts are underway to seize the truck, trailer and two Harley Davidson motorcycles. Although federal prosecution is underway, the state has also expressed an interest in filing additional charges against the gang members. In addition to this case, park law enforcement personnel also handled more than 300 incidents during this year's rally. Eleven of these resulted in arrests, including a felony firearm arrest made on August 4th. Park employees also handled nine medicals, including an ALS life flight for two bikers involved in a motor vehicle accident on August 13th. During the rally, the park's ranger staff was augmented by four BIA officers. [Mark Gorman, Chief Ranger]

Great Smoky Mountains NP

Potential Homeland Security Threat

A visitor and his family were returning from a hike on the Laurel Falls trail on the evening of August 14th when the came upon a group of a dozen young men, later described as appearing to be of Middle Eastern descent, hiking up the trail toward the waterfall. Several of them were carrying what the visitor described as plastic-type guns that looked like automatic weapons. When he asked what they were doing with the guns, one of them replied that they were “going to hike up to the falls and play war” and asked if he wanted to join them. The man used a cell phone to call park dispatch and report the incident. Rangers Scott Kalna, Lorena Harris, and Ken Meyer responded and contacted the group at the trailhead. They found that eleven of the men in the group were in fact of Middle Eastern descent, that they ranged in age from 19 to 23, and that they were college students at the University of Alabama. The twelfth man was 27 and from Florida. They had six weapons among them. All had the features of MP5 automatic rifles, but were actually plastic guns that shot plastic pellets. Except for orange tips on the gun barrels, all had a very realistic appearance, including pressure-activated laser sights, flashlights, and realistic looking ammunition that was visible through the transparent and removable magazines. The men also had a video camera in their possession with a tape showing them shooting the guns at each other in the area of Laurel Falls. They were cooperative throughout the contact, but some questions were raised while the rangers were attempting to identify each of them. An FBI agent on the joint terrorism task force (JTTF) in Knoxville was contacted and asked to assist in identifying the men and gathering any information pertaining to them. Because of the suspicious nature of the incident, the JTTF is following up on possible leads that the rangers uncovered during the investigation. In consultation with the FBI agent and NPS special agent Jeff Carlisle, the weapons were seized and the members of the group were given warnings for disorderly conduct and weapons use. They were then released. Photographs and video in their possession also showed that the students had been in the park most of the day and at various locations. They had not been camping in the park, but were staying in a motel in the Gatlinburg area. [Rick Brown, Acting Chief Ranger]

Ozark NSR

Two Arrested For Campground Thefts

On August 5th, rangers arrested A.L. and R.L. of Salem, Missouri, for alleged burglary and stealing. A.L. was seen entering several tents in the Round Spring campground and was caught inside one of them with stolen property on his person. Rangers suspect that the Longs have been involved in a series of campground thefts that have occurred this summer in the park and at several private campgrounds. Rangers have been conducting surveillance operations at developed campgrounds on weekends since early July in an effort to catch the thieves. Protection rangers from Jefferson National Expansion, Buffalo River and Wilson's Creek volunteered their assistance and traveled to the park to help out in the operation. The investigation is continuing. The U.S. Attorneys Office in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, will be prosecuting. [Kinsey Shilling, Chief Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

Other news of interest from today's edition of InsideNPS, which can be found at this address if your inside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/" http://inside.nps.gov/) and at this address if you're outside the NPS ( HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/). Note that not all articles that appear in the former make it into the latter:

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Prepared by Visitor and Resource Protection, WASO, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap NRA.

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