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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Tuesday, May 22, 2012 INCIDENTS Yosemite NP Missing Hiker Found By Searchers The three-day search for a 22-year-old college student lost in the park came to a successful conclusion yesterday afternoon when he was found in good condition about five miles from the point where he'd last been seen. J.P.C.F., 22, a college student at the University of California at Santa Cruz, was last seen near Kibbie Lake in the Hetch Hetchy area of the park this past Saturday. J.P.C.F. was on a backpacking trip with a group of fellow students from UCSC. The students began their hike at Cherry Lake on Friday and set up camp near Kibbie Lake that evening. Late on Saturday morning, group members noticed that J.P.C.F. was not present during a headcount. When the group reassembled approximately an hour later after a short day hike, he was still unaccounted for. Approximately 50 people began searching for him, including search and rescue teams from Yosemite National Park Search and Rescue, Contra Costa County, Marin County, Monterey County, and the Bay Area Mountain Rescue Unit. The park's helicopter and a California Highway Patrol helicopter assisted ground teams in the search, as did search dog teams. He was spotted from the park's contract helicopter yesterday afternoon near Edith Lake, approximately five miles east of Kibbie Lake, the point where he was last seen. Rangers soon contacted him and found him to be unharmed and in good health. HYPERLINK "http://www.nps.gov/yose/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&pageID =518370_" [Kari Cobb, Public Affairs Specialist] Grand Canyon NP Court Sentences Man Who Threatened Ranger In December 2011, a man threatened a park protection ranger as a result of the ranger's performance of his official duties. The threat was emailed and involved the ranger being placed on suspect's “death list.” The ranger contacted special agents with the Investigative Services Branch and an investigation was begun that revealed that the threat had come from G.P., who'd previously been convicted for threatening the same ranger in 2009, A criminal complaint was filed and an arrest warrant was issued, and the arrest warrant was entered into HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NCIC" NCIC's wanted person files. A Coconino County deputy contacted G.P. in the early morning hours outside of Flagstaff, Arizona, for sleeping in a picnic area; when G.P.'s name was run through NCIC, the wanted person notice was discovered. G.P. was arrested on the outstanding warrant. On April 26th, G.P. pled guilty to one count of threatening a federal officer and four days later was sentenced to credit for time served in custody and one year of unsupervised probation. [Dionne K. Pegeder, Special Agent] Grand Canyon NP Sentence Issued In Assault Case Rangers received information in mid-March regarding an assault on a Grand Canyon resident that resulted in serious bodily injury. ISB agents began an investigation and filed two complaints against J.B., who was also a suspect in another assault on a Grand Canyon resident. He was arrested on warrants by agents and protection rangers and pled guilty to both counts. J.B. was sentenced to 180 days in custody and two years of supervised probation and was also ordered to pay restitution to both victims. [Dionne K. Pegeder, Special Agent] 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/): Office of Communications - True to advance billing, Sunday evening's solar eclipse was spectacular. Tens of thousands of people saw the eclipse from national parks across the west and even more watched it live via an NPS webcast from Petroglyph NM. United States Park Police - Officer Christopher Gogarty is this year's recipient of the Farthing Award, named for a US Park Police officer who was killed in the line of duty in 2002. The award is given annually to an officer who excels in DUI and traffic enforcement. Midwest Region - In remembrance of Peace Officers Memorial Day and Police Week, Ranger Julie Ann Weir's name was added to the black granite wall at the Nebraska Law Enforcement Memorial honoring those who have fallen in the line of duty. * * * * 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). --- ### --- |