NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

INCIDENTS

Kennesaw Mountain NBP

Man Sentenced To Fifteen Years For Terroristic Acts

Beginning in 2008, rangers and Cobb County police officers began investigating a series of incidents that involved catastrophic damage to the windshields of moving vehicles as they drove through the park and along immediately adjacent roadways. Evidence collected at the scenes established that objects were being shot and thrown/launched into vehicles by one or more people. Over 45 incidents occurred during the period between 2008 and 2010. It initially appeared that the shots were originating from a heavily wooded route through the park on Dallas Highway near John Ward Road. Nearly all of the incidents occurred during the hours of darkness and officers from both jurisdictions began continuous late night and early morning surveillances, employing FLIR (forward looking infrared) equipment loaned by the Georgia State Patrol and the Georgia National Guard, who assisted with the surveillance. Ranger Anthony Winegar received several reports during the initial investigation that suggested that an oncoming gold GMC Denali pickup truck might have been involved. Winegar and Cobb County detectives then began working out a more detailed description of the truck and the county placed video surveillance cameras along the route. Incidents stopped and the case then went cold. Incidents began to reoccur in 2009, and in June a large metal object crashed through a vehicle's driver's side mirror housing, mirror and window before striking the driver in the chest. This time the video cameras captured a gold Denali pickup truck driving back and forth along the roadway, doing what the prosecutor called “sharking” for his prey. Detectives and Winegar began looking closely at the truck. They picked out distinguishing features and determined that there were only two such trucks registered in the area. One belonged to an elderly gentleman and the other belonged to a man named C.S.L. The video footage, as helpful as it was, did not reveal a license plate number. Cobb County police then put a video camera in Winegar's front yard, hoping to catch C.S.L. travelling to and from incident locations. Incidents continued to occur, with the same pickup truck caught on video in the area at the appropriate times. Eventually, after a 90-year-old man was struck in broad daylight, cameras captured a license plate, identifying the truck as belonging to C.S.L.. The next piece of information needed was to identify the driver. One wek later, Winegar and seasonal ranger Carlie Sells were travelling home by personal vehicle from a firearms range session at approximately 9:30 p.m. C.S.L.'s truck emerged from a curve in the oncoming lane. As Winegar and C.S.L. got closer, a metal object hit the passenger side of Winegar's truck and rolled across the roof. Sells quickly used her phone to call police. Winegar and Sells both retrieved their weapons while Winegar conducted a quick U-turn and followed C.S.L. C.S.L. sped up and continued through the park and into the city of Marietta. Winegar and Sells followed and remained on the phone with 911. C.S.L. ducked into a McDonald's restaurant and drove to the back of the store where he began to turn around to face Winegar and Sells. Fearing an ambush, Winegar accelerated around the back of the store before C.S.L. could turn his larger truck around. Winegar continued to follow C.S.L. as he exited the back of the store parking lot. Marietta police eventually caught up with C.S.L. and Winegar, stopping C.S.L. Cobb County police arrived and arrested C.S.L. At the incident location where Winegar and Sells were hit, Winegar and Cobb officers found a live .22 caliber round and an empty box of .22 caliber bullets further down the road. Detectives then located a spent shell casing in C.S.L.'s truck. C.S.L. denied involvement. A search warrant at his residence and business revealed identical objects recovered from various scenes and several high-powered rifles with optics equipped for night viewing. A few weeks later, a grand jury indicted C.S.L. on 45 felony counts of terroristic acts. C.S.L. was released on bond, but tested positive for cocaine the morning of his first court appearance. After going back to jail, he was released on bond again. A week later, in October, 2010, C.S.L. assaulted Winegar while he was on his way to work. C.S.L. acted as though he was going to ram Winegar's vehicle and pounded on his own dashboard. Winegar again retrieved his weapon and contacted 911. C.S.L. was arrested that afternoon for witness tampering and again incarcerated. He remained there until June 16th, when he appeared in court and pled guilty to several charges, including witness tampering, and was sentenced to 15 years. His maximum sentence possibility was 85 years. C.S.L. apologized to victims and stated that depression and anger caused him to do the things that he did, sparking what prosecutors called a “two year cycle of terror.” Media interest has been high throughout the entire investigation. [Stanley Bond, Superintendent]

Yosemite NP

Rangers Rescue Injured Climber Who Fell Sixty Feet

A visitor called park dispatch last Wednesday morning and reported that he'd seen a climber fall while ascending El Capitan. Rangers found that Japanese climber Y.N., 31, who was lead climber on an ascent of the Zodiac route, had fallen about 60 feet when a piece of protective gear fell out. When Y.N. hit the ground, he sustained injuries to his back and pelvis. Y.N. was short-hauled via the park's helicopter along with ranger Jeff Webb to El Capitan Meadow. He was then flown to Modesto Memorial Medical Center, where he was trated and released later that day. The IC was ranger Aaron Smith. [Kari Cobb, Public Affairs Officer]

Colorado NM

Rangers Arrest Man For Auto Break-Ins

On June 5th, rangers responded to the report of a theft from an auto at the Lower Monument Canyon trailhead, but found that it had taken place approximately 70 feet from the park's boundary and therefore turned the investigation over to the Mesa County Sheriff's Office. Three days later, rangers received a report of three more vehicles being broken into at the same trailhead, but within the park's boundary. One of the victims reported that her purse was stolen and that someone had used one of her credit cards at City Market grocery stores in Fruita and Grand Junction that afternoon. Rangers worked closely with City Market staff and received excellent surveillance photos of the suspect from them. The photos were distributed to law enforcement agencies in the Grand Valley and an employee from the Grand Junction Police Department recognized the suspect as C.L., 25, of Fruita. On June 14th, a team comprised of rangers, police officers, a sheriff's deputy and a BLM ranger executed a search warrant on C.L.'s home in the town of Fruita. C.L. arrived home an hour after the search began and confessed to entering the three vehicles on the 8th and using the stolen credit card at the grocery stores. He was arrested under a federal arrest warrant and taken to the Mesa County Jail. State charges are also pending. [Phil Akers, Chief 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/):

Great Smoky Mountains NP - Every June, thousands of visitors flock to the Elkmont area to see the annual mating display of a species of firefly whose male members flash synchronously. During a nine day period this year, over 12,000 visitors came each night to watch the phenomena.

Colorado NM - The park's first annual “Backyard Campout” was held last Saturday and drew 200 campers, mostly families from local communities, to Saddlehorn Campground. Photo.

US Park Police - Representatives from US Park Police Explorer Post #1791 attended the funeral of Wynetta Wright and her daughter Jaylin on June 10th. Only 20 years old, Wright had been a member of the Prince George's County Sheriff Explorer Post. Photo.

NPS Alumni - Carla Martin, 75, former superintendent of the Western Archeological Conservation Center, passed away on June 12th from a heart attack.

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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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