NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Thursday, April 12, 2012

INCIDENTS

Petersburg NBP

Convicted Relic Hunter Sentenced To Jail Term

A Petersburg man who pled guilty last year to three felony charges stemming from illegal relic hunting on Petersburg National Battlefield property was sentenced in federal court on March 21st. The judge ordered J.J.S. to be incarcerated for one year and one day, followed by three years of supervised probation with mandatory drug and alcohol counseling and testing. He was ordered to pay $7,356 in restitution to the park for the damage his illegal excavations caused and banned from entering units of the National Park system during his probation period. J.J.S. was also ordered to pay a $300 special assessment fee and to forfeit to the park the 9,936 artifacts that were seized from his residence during the service of a search warrant last year. The investigation revealed that between 2005 and 2010, John J.J.S. relic hunted on a nearly daily basis - much of the time within Petersburg National Battlefield. It is unknown the exact number of artifacts J.J.S. excavated or the full extent of the damage caused by his unlawful activity, but according to journals that he kept, J.J.S. excavated over 18,000 Civil War era bullets alone during this timeframe. J.J.S. was remanded to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons on April 9th. For more information on the case, click on HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Incidents&id=5995" this link. [April Michener, Special Agent, Investigative Services Branch]

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/):

Director's Office - The National Park Service has developed a Green Parks Plan that outlines how the agency will live up to its “Go Green” commitment, reduce its impact on the environment, mitigate the effects of climate change, and integrate sustainable practices into all aspects of NPS operations. INTERNAL ONLY

Fire and Aviation Management - Interagency fire messages for this year were recently approved by the National Multi-Agency Coordinating Group at the National Interagency Fire Center.

Outer Banks Group - Dean Mark has been selected as the new administrative officer for the Outer Banks Group, which includes Cape Hatteras, Wright Brothers, and Fort Raleigh.

Recreation Fee Program - Leonard B. Miller, a contractor who provided the NPS with fee collection equipment for many years, died on April 6th after battling lung cancer since last year.

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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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