NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

INCIDENTS

Bighorn Canyon NRA

Former YCC Crewmember Pleads Guilty To Theft

On October 4th, a 24-year-old former Youth Conservation Corps seasonal worker pled guilty to several state charges in state district court in Bighorn County. The state charges date back to 2008 and include a probation revocation, pharmacy burglary, bringing contraband into a jail facility, and larceny from National Park Service buildings. From April, 2008, to December, 2009, the former employee entered several government buildings leased or owned by the park in Lovell, Wyoming, and stole numerous power tools and a laptop computer. The employee later admitted to selling the stolen equipment to pay for his opiate addiction. For the larceny of federal property, the former employee received four to six years in the Wyoming State Penitentiary and was ordered to pay the park restitution in the amount of $8,405.04. The former employee will also be on three years of supervised probation once released from jail. [Dale Kissner, Deputy Chief Ranger]

Mammoth Cave NP

Two Men Arrested For Cultivating Marijuana In Park

Late on the morning of October 8th, rangers saw a vehicle leave the park that they believed to be associated with a marijuana cultivation operation. They followed it and noted that it had an inoperative brake light and that a strong odor of unprocessed marijuana was emanating from within. Rangers David Alexander, Jonathon Bledsoe, and Kelly Brownson stopped it at one of the park's overlooks and found more than three pounds of fresh marijuana buds in a black trash bag, plus fertilizer, shears, coated wire, other cultivation devices, two cell phones and a GPS unit. The two men inside - R.W., 25, and R.P., 20, both of Bowling Green, Kentucky - waived their Miranda rights. During questioning, R.P. admitted he had several cultivation sites inside the park and also admitted that he had been visiting those sites since the early spring. R.W. admitted that he had been dropping R.P. off in the park and picking him up for the past three weeks. He also admitted to transporting harvested marijuana back to their apartment in Bowling Green. Based on these statements, the Kentucky State Police Special Investigations Division was able to obtain a search warrant for the apartment and visited it that same day. During the search, approximately two pounds of processed marijuana, 34 grams of processed mushrooms, two indoor mushroom growing operations, and two indoor marijuana growing operations with ten plants were confiscated. A large amount of drug paraphernalia and distribution evidence was also seized. A field search conducted by rangers the next day yielded ten un-harvested marijuana plants and evidence of a total of 31 cultivated plants in five plots. R.P. had nearly 50 waypoints on his GPS located within the park which have yet to be checked. The arrests brought to a culmination an investigation by rangers which began this past May. Both men are currently in jail and face numerous federal and state charges. [David Alexander, Park 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/):

African Burial Ground NM - On October 7th, the park commemorated the 1991 rediscovery of the cemetery where free and enslaved Africans had been interred with a ceremony that featured presentations by several of the key figures who brought attention to the find, actively campaigned for its preservation, and helped move it through the process to its ultimate designation as a national monument.

Intermountain Region - In mid-September, the NPS and the American Indian Alaska Native Tourism Association (AIANTA) and entered into an important partnership MOU for Intermountain Region.

Wupatki NM - Staff in the Flagstaff Area National Monuments are mourning the death of Brandon Honhongva, 22, a visitor use assistant at Wupatki who was killed in a motor vehicle accident late last month. Photo.

Historic Preservation Training Center - Christopher P. Ash, a preservation worker on the center's woodcrafting team, died on Sunday October 16th following an extended battle with cancer He was 37 years old. Photo.

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The Morning Report is a publication of the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, produced with the support of the Office of the Assistant Director for Information Resources 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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