NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Thursday, February 3, 2011

INCIDENTS

Yellowstone NP

Concession Employee Arrested On Warrant, Other Charges

On January 13th, field trainee rangers Ben Littlefield and Chris Farrar were dispatched to a report of a minor in possession of alcohol at a concession employee dormitory. The rangers contacted C.R.D. and his 20-year-old girlfriend, who were occupying the same room. During the contact, the park dispatch advised that there was a protection order out of Colorado against C.R.D., prohibiting him from being in contact with his girlfriend. The girlfriend claimed, however, that she was voluntarily living with C.R.D.. During a follow-up investigation conducted by ranger Alec Chapman, Colorado advised they had an existing in-state arrest warrant for C.R.D. for failure to comply with conditions of probation stemming from his conviction for assaulting his girlfriend. Colorado, upon learning that C.R.D. was violating several conditions of probation, expanded the area of extradition to include surrounding states and asked the park to arrest him. Chapman and an ISB special agent investigated further and learned that C.R.D. had fraudulently obtained an employee vehicle permit and was operating a vehicle without liability insurance and valid registration. Chapman advised Littlefield and Farrar of the warrant and the other violations. On January 26th, Littlefield and Farrar saw what they suspected to be drug paraphernalia in C.R.D.'s vehicle and again contacted him and his girlfriend. At this time, the girlfriend was intoxicated and admitted that C.R.D. had provided her with the alcohol and that they had both used the marijuana pipe the rangers previously observed in their vehicle. C.R.D. admitted that he owned the pipe and had provided his girlfriend with alcohol. A search of the vehicle yielded more marijuana and drug paraphernalia, which tested positive for amphetamines. C.R.D. was arrested on the Colorado warrant and was subsequently charged via criminal complaint with one Class A drug possession misdemeanor and five Class B misdemeanors. The Yellowstone-based assistant U. S. attorney reached a plea agreement with C.R.D., and, on January 28th, he pled guilty and was convicted on two of the counts. He was sentenced to seven days confinement for possession of controlled substance and seven days for giving alcohol to a minor, both to run concurrently. C.R.D. was also placed on unsupervised probation for a period of five years, during which he is banned from Yellowstone. During his initial appearance, C.R.D. waived extradition on the Colorado warrant and remains in custody awaiting transfer to Colorado. [Chris Farrar, Field Training Ranger]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories are among those in today's edition of InsideNPS. To see the full text, including images, NPS employees should go to the InsideNPS home page ( HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=index). Non-NPS employees can see most of them on the NPS Digest page ( HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/):

Grand Canyon NP - The National Park Service has released a draft environmental impact statement that addresses air tour flights and the substantial restoration of natural quiet in the vicinity of the park. Public comments are due by June 6th.

Risk Management Division - To raise awareness of Operational Leadership, a partnership with the NPS Fundamentals training program is now underway. All NPS Fundamentals students who now attend the residential component of the course experience a session titled NPS Operational Leadership 101.

Hovenweep NM - Funeral plans and services have been announced for Chris Nickel, the Hovenweep ranger who collapsed and died while hiking a park trail on January 29th. Mourning bands have been authorized on badges through Friday.

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Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of Communications and the Office of the Chief Information Officer. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

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