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NATIONAL PARK SERVICE MORNING REPORT Thursday, October 4, 2012 INCIDENTS Great Sand Dunes NP&P Employee Guilty Of Embezzling From Park Sentenced On September 21st, L.L.W., 49, formerly of Hooper, Colorado, was sentenced in federal court to 33 months in jail for embezzling money from Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve. The judge also ordered L.L.W. to pay the National Park Service $738,471 in restitution. Once released from prison, she will have to serve three years' supervised release. In January, 2011, a National Park Service budget technician working at the park was reconciling third party draft checks when she noticed that two checks had not been entered into the park's vendor log. Upon inquiry, the technician discovered the checks had been written to R.W., L.L.W.'s husband. An investigation ensued which ultimately revealed that L.L.W. had written over 870 checks totaling $731,009.54 to her husband between January, 2007, and January, 2011. The investigation also revealed that L.L.W. made a number of unauthorized purchases using her National Park Service issued credit card. The charges included purchases for wood flooring for her home, clothing, fencing and a stay at the Pagosa Springs Resort. The total of unauthorized purchases on the credit card came to $7,461.09. L.L.W. was indicted by a federal grand jury on October 5, 2011. She pled guilty to theft of government property and money laundering on May 4, 2012. This case was investigated by the National Park Service Investigative Services Branch and IRS Criminal Investigations. [Investigations Services Branch] Golden Gate NRA Rangers Intervene In Suicide Attempt On the evening of Wednesday, September 26th, rangers responded to a report of a drunken man who appeared to be in distress on the northern part of the beach at Fort Funston. Upon confirming a better location from a reporting party, rangers located a lone man sitting on the beach at the base of the nearby cliffs with nightfall and heavy fog quickly settling in. The man was obviously intoxicated and admitted to drinking vodka all day. Rangers escorted him off the beach and to their nearby patrol cars. While there, the man admitted to attempting suicide by getting drunk and hoping to be swept out to sea by the incoming tide. The rangers took him to San Francisco General Hospital for a psychological evaluation. While being admitted, he started to sober up and thanked rangers several times for saving his life and was "touched" that two different park users had reported him to law enforcement. Just before departing the psychological ward of the hospital, he told the rangers that he was going to kill himself that day. The man was taking prescription anti-depressants and told the intake nurse that he thinks about suicide every day of his life. [Randy Lavasseur, Deputy Chief Ranger] Blue Ridge Parkway Asheville Man Jumps To Death From Parkway Bridge Rangers, Buncombe County officers and North Carolina State Highway Patrol troopers were notified of a body lying along the side of I-26 below the parkway on the evening of September 27th. They found that a 45-year-old Asheville man had jumped from the parkway bridge to the road below. His vehicle was located near the bridge with several notes indicating mental distress and depression. Notification was made to his wife, who reported that he had been suffering from depression, that he'd been undergoing treatment for several years, and that he had contemplated suicide and attempted it several years previously. [Tim Francis, Pisgah District 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/): Northeast Region - Since July, hikers on the New England National Scenic Trail have had the chance to discover something unexpected along the trail -- the Hespera Stones, a temporary sculptural installation inscribed with poetry from Emily Dickinson. Air Resources Division - A new "Call to Action" item entitled "Enjoy the View" calls attention to the need to protect scenic views and air quality around the Service. You are invited to join a discussion forum on the topic. Scotts Bluff NM - On August 25th, Colorado State University took possession of an “NPS Employees Library" - a collection of over 3,000 books, pamphlets and papers, many historic, donated to the school by NPS employees past and present. NPS Alumni - On September 23rd, the world lost a true champion of parks and protected areas with the passing of Rob Milne, retired chief of the National Park Service's Office of International Affairs from 1975 to 1995. * * * * The Morning Report is a publication of the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, produced by the Office of Communications with the support of the Office of the Associate Director for Information Resources. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov). --- ### --- |