NATIONAL PARK SERVICE

MORNING REPORT

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

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INCIDENTS

Grand Canyon NP

Search Underway For Armed Carjackers

Park dispatch received several reports of an accident near Twin Overlooks on Desert View Drive on the South Rim around 3:30 p.m. on Monday afternoon. Witnesses stopped to offer assistance to the two men who were in the car, but both refused and left on foot, carrying large backpacks. Rangers responded and began an investigation. Around 7:15 p.m. that evening, a man called dispatch from a market within Grand Canyon Village and reported that the car he and his passenger had been driving in - a 2008 Dodge Caliber four-door hatchback - had been carjacked at gunpoint near Lipan Point on Desert View Drive. He said that two men had taken it and headed west toward the village. The men matched descriptions of the two who'd left the scene of the accident. The two men have been identified as T.“T.-B.”T., 36, and W.T., 38. T.T. is 5'8” tall, weighs about 200 pounds, has brown hair, blue eyes and facial hair, and has tattoos on his arms and legs. W.T. is 6'2” tall, weighs about 180 pounds, has shoulder-length blonde hair, blue eyes and facial hair, and also has tattoos on his arms and legs. The two men are considered armed and dangerous. Protection rangers and officers from the Arizona Department of Public Safety and the Coconino County Sheriff's Office are searching all areas within and adjacent to Grand Canyon Village. Patrols are also being increased in both the park and the Tusayan area. Anyone with information regarding the suspects or stolen vehicle should call Grand Canyon's emergency dispatch center at 928-638-7805. [Maureen Oltrogge, Public Affairs Officer]

Pacific West Region

Asian Antiquities Expert Indicted In Federal Court

On Monday, May 12th, an internationally recognized expert on Asian antiquities made her initial appearance in federal court in Seattle, where she was arrested late Friday on a federal wire fraud charge stemming from an on-going multi-agency investigation into the importation of plundered antiquities from Southeast Asia. R.M.B., 62, director of the Southeast Asian Ceramics Museum at Bangkok University in Thailand, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Los Angeles on Friday. The indictment alleges that she allowed her electronic signature to be used on appraisal forms that, for tax purposes, inflated the value of antiquities donated to several Southern California museums. The arrest and indictment stemmed from a five-year-long investigation called “Operation Antiquity” that is focusing on looting, importation, sale and tax fraud violations related to historical and cultural items from the U.S. and other countries. Participating along with the NPS are Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, the IRS, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The charges against R.M.B. come four months after federal agents executed search warrants at four Southern California museums and the Silk Roads Gallery in Los Angeles. According to the affidavit filed in connection with the search of Silk Roads, the gallery's owners, J.M. and C.M., used R.M.B.'s electronic signature on several occasions to falsify appraisal forms so that collectors could claim increased tax deductions for objects donated to museums. The search warrant affidavit details how an undercover agent posing as a collector approached the M.s in 2006 about donating several Asian antiquities to museums for charitable tax deductions. J.M. allegedly told the agent he normally charged $1,500 for an item or items that would be appraised at just under $5,000. Subsequently, the undercover agent met with the M.s at their home where he viewed a collection of Thai antiquities he had purchased from the gallery owners for $1,500 in cash. According to the affidavit, the M.s showed the agent an appraisal form purportedly prepared by R.M.B. in which she claimed she had inspected the objects and valued them at $4,990. The items were ultimately donated to the Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena. An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. The wire fraud charge carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison. R.M.B. was taken into custody by special agents with IRS Criminal Investigation and the National Park Service. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is also involved in the ongoing investigation. R.M.B.'s prosecution is being handled by the United States Attorney's Office for the Central District of California. [Department of Justice]

HYPERLINK "http://classicinside.nps.gov/headline.cfm?type=Incidents&id=3701" http://classicinside.nps.gov/headline.cfm?type=Incidents&id=3701

Cape Hatteras NS

IMT Assists With Consent Decree Implementation

On May 4th, an incident management team (Bill Wright, IC) arrived at the park to assist with the planning and implementation of a consent decree issued by the federal court at the end of April. The decree constitutes a settlement agreement to a lawsuit filed against the park by the National Audubon Society and the Defenders of Wildlife. The purpose of the decree is to regulate beach driving and protect shorebirds and turtles along the park's 64-mile shoreline. Implementation of the decree since May 1st has resulted in effectively closing the beaches at Oregon Inlet (Bodie Island), Cape Point, and South Point on Ocracoke Island to all access. The IMT is determining additional staffing and housing needs and associated financial costs for carrying out the decree. A special events team was assigned to the park on May 1st to provide enhanced law enforcement and patrol coverage of recently closed areas and expanded buffer zones established to protect piping plovers, least terns, American oystercatchers and other shorebirds. The consent decree also instituted a ban on night beach driving between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. from May 1st through Nov 15th, with a new night driving permit to be implemented beginning September 16th. The first documented violation of a resource closure took place on Saturday, May 10th, when a park ranger discovered and documented twelve posts with “Area Closed” signs on them broken off at the sand line and several Carsonite closure markers pulled out at the shoreline. Under the terms of the decree, the violation resulted in a mandatory expansion of the closure area by 50 meters. The park is continuing to seek out new ways to address the increased workload that has been generated by the consent decree. Additional monitors, laborers, and law enforcement staff will be necessary through the peak of the season in order to comply with the language of the decree. [Barbara Dougan, Incident Information Officer]

OTHER NEWS

The following stories (among others) can be read on InsideNPS:

Department of the Interior - On Monday, May 12th, Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne delivered the keynote address at the Department's Law Enforcement Memorial Ceremony, which honored Interior officers who have died in the line of duty.

HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=6503" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=6503

Yellowstone NP - A section of Yellowstone's Grand Loop Road south of Canyon Junction collapsed Monday afternoon, prompting a temporary closure of that section of road.

HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=6504" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=6504

Gettysburg NMP - The Gettysburg Foundation has purchased the George Spangler Farm, protecting this historically significant site within the park from private development.

HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=6505" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=Announcements&id=6505

Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services - Dean Ross has been named the new chief of the Branch of Emergency Services in the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services in the Washington Office. He succeeds Dan Pontbriand, who transferred to Sequoia-Kings Canyon.

HYPERLINK "http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=PeopleNews&id=1924" http://home.nps.gov/applications/digest/headline.cfm?type=PeopleNews&id=1924

Natural Resource Program Center - Dr. Jeffery Cross will assume the position of chief of the Ocean and Coastal Resources Branch within the Water Resources Division of the Natural Resource Program Center.

HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=6500" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=6500

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Submission standards for the Morning Report can be found at the following web site:

HYPERLINK "http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=3363" http://inside.nps.gov/index.cfm?handler=viewnpsnewsarticle&type=Announcements&id=3363

Prepared by the Division of Law Enforcement, Security and Emergency Services, Washington Office, with the support of the Office of the Chief Information Officer and Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area. Edited by Bill Halainen ( HYPERLINK "mailto:Bill_Halainen@nps.gov" Bill_Halainen@nps.gov).

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