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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Tuesday, July 3, 2007 =============================================================================================================== INCIDENTS Big Cypress NP Car Clouting Conviction On December 2, 2006, a park visitor standing on the viewing platform at the Oasis Visitor Center noticed the trunk of his rental car up and two unknown men standing nearby. As he approached, he saw the two men get into a red van and drive away. The visitor discovered that a purse and fanny pack had been taken out of the trunk. Rangers were called to the scene to investigate. The victim described the two men, their vehicle and its license plate. The description of the van was relayed to rangers and to local agencies. A Collier County deputy found the van 20 miles away at a gas station right after hearing its description on the radio. Rangers then brought the victim/witness to the gas station, where he was able to identify one of the men, L.R. A search of the vehicle was made and the items that had been stolen were found in a storage compartment. Rangers obtained a surveillance video tape from the gas station which showed L.R. disposing of burglary tools before being contacted by the deputy. The identification and credit cards of the victims were never located. Both men were arrested and charged with several violations. L.R. pled guilty to felony larceny of the personal property of another exceeding $1,000 (18 USC 661). He was sentenced to five years in jail and three years of supervised probation and ordered to pay restitution to his victims. Unfortunately, the other man was found not guilty at a jury trial due to insufficient evidence (inability of victim/witness to positively identify him and lack of forensic evidence tying him to the crime). Both men have extensive histories of this type of offense. Rangers Mary Jo Shreffler and Ryan Levins were the case agents. [Ed Clark, Chief Ranger] Glacier NP Rangers Respond To Out-Of-Park Drowning On the evening of June 28th, rangers responded to a report from Glacier County dispatch of two men struggling in the water after their canoe capsized on Lower St. Mary Lake, which is located outside the park. The rangers spotted the overturned canoe approximately 200 yards from shore. An off-duty Glacier County deputy who lived nearby was able to pull one man to shore with his personal Wave Runner watercraft. He was taken to a hospital. The second man was retrieved from the water with the assistance of ranger Jan Cauthorn-Page and the deputy with the Wave Runner. An ALERT helicopter was dispatched to the scene. CPR was begun immediately and continued for approximately 30 minutes before rangers Dave Page, Jan Cauthorn-Page, and Phil Basak discontinued efforts after contacting a physician at Kalispell Regional Medical Center. The victim had been in the water for approximately 30 minutes before CPR was begun. [Ann Marie Chytra, Hudson Bay District Ranger] Assateague Island NS Body Found Off Park Beach A park visitor came upon a body floating about 300 yards offshore in the over sand vehicle zone around 5 p.m. on the afternoon of Sunday, June 24th. Rangers recovered the body shortly thereafter. The man had evidently been in the water for several days. An investigation was begun and the body was taken to a lab for identification. He was found to a man who'd been reported missing in Ocean City a week earlier. The body had drifted about 17 miles. [Martin Budzynski, Park Ranger] OTHER NEWS The following stories (among others) can be read on either the InsideNPS web site (if you are within the National Park Service) or at the InsideNPS public ‘news digest' site (if you are outside of the NPS). The web sites appear below: Concessions Management - The National Park Service has selected Hornblower Yachts, Inc. to provide ferry service to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island under the terms of a new ten-year concessions contract. The ferry service is now provided by Circle Line - Statue of Liberty Ferry, Inc. Glen Canyon NRA - A boat infested with quagga mussels was decontaminated last Friday at Wahweap Marina. The boat arrived in the park from Lake Havasu, where it had been moored for more than six months. To see the above articles, go to InsideNPS ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/" http://inside.nps.gov/) or NPS Digest ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/). For NPS incident reporting standards, go to HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=3363" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=3363 * * * * * Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the cooperation and support of Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov, 570-426-2430). --- ### --- |