NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Thursday, January 17, 2008

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INCIDENTS

Mesa Verde NP

Contractor Employee Convicted In ARPA Case

While investigating an unrelated case involving employees of Kirkland Construction, which had been engaged in a park repaving project under Federal Highways oversight, rangers learned through a confidential informant that one of the company's employees had been collecting and removing artifacts from locations near the construction site. The informant reported that R.G., a truck driver for Kirkland, had been seen with a bread bag full of pot sherds, and that R.G. had been overheard talking about how he'd taken the sherds and an artifact described as a “grinding stone” from the park. Based on the description of the grinding stone, rangers had reason to believe that R.G. had taken a mano and metate. A search warrant was issued by the federal magistrate's office in Durango and executed by park rangers with assistance from a BLM ranger, a BLM special agent and Cortez Police Department officers. A total of 252 items were found and recovered, including pot sherds, flake lithics, rocks, paleontological specimens, stone tools and a mano and metate that together weighed about 50 pounds. Cortez officers also found and seized drug paraphernalia. R.G. was interviewed and reported that he'd taken the items from the park over a month-long period. He said that he would walk through the woods near the site, collecting items, during his down time at the construction site. The day after the warrant was served, R.G. met with rangers and a park archeologist and took them to the location where he'd removed the metate. The area was a known and previously surveyed archeological site. On January 8th, R.G. pled guilty to ARPA charges and was sentenced by the federal magistrate. He was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine and $1,000 in restitution to the park, banned from entering all NPS areas for three years, and required to write a letter to the local newspaper explaining his crime and how it hurt the national parks and describing the sentence he'd received. [Scott Fischer, Park Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories (among others) can be read on InsideNPS (internal) or NPS Digest (external):

Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services - Directors Order 55, which establishes and defines standards and procedures for the National Park Service's incident management program, has been approved and is now in effect.

HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=6142" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=6142

Pinnacles NM - On Wednesday, January 16th, Pinnacles National Monument began its year long centennial celebration with a rededication ceremony.

HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=6146" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=6146

SERO - Three members of the regional office staff retired early in January - John Yancy, Allen Bohnert, and Kenneth Slay.

HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewcommunityarticle&type=PeopleNews&id=1804" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewcommunityarticle&type=PeopleNews&id=1804

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Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of the Chief Information Officer and Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov, 570-686-3828).

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