Yellowstone Gate (https://www.yellowstonegate.com/tag/crime/)
A Dutch visitor to Yellowstone National Park has been fined more than $3,000 after crashing a drone into Grand Prismatic Spring in August. Theodorus Van Vliet pleaded guilty in federal court this week to violating a park ban against operating an unmanned aircraft. He was fined $1,000 and ordered to pay over $2,200 in restitution. Van Vliet's mishap drew global attention after his small, remote-controlled helicopter drone plunged into the largest hot spring in Yellowstone. Continue Reading →
A German tourist who crashed a drone into Yellowstone Lake has been banned from Yellowstone National Park for one year and ordered to pay a fine of $1,500 after pleading guilty in federal court this week. Appearing by telephone from Germany, Andreas Meissner, 37, pleaded guilty to three charges related to the operation of an unmanned aerial vehicle in a national park. Continue Reading →
A Nevada man was sentenced Nov. 25 in federal court in connection with a June 28 stabbing in Grand Teton National Park. Vincent Earl Hagey, 32, of Las Vegas, Nev. was sentenced to one year of probation by District Judge Nancy D. Freudenthal in Cheyenne, Wyo. Continue Reading →
Rangers in Grand Teton National Park used road spikes Sunday to stop a vehicle that failed to pull over for a traffic stop, the second time in three weeks that the tactic has been used by park law enforcement officers. A driver on U.S. Highway 26/89/191 did not pull over shortly after 11 p.m. Sunday when a ranger attempted to stop the motorist for crossing the center line, according to a statement released by the park's public affairs office. Continue Reading →
Before completion of the Nothern Pacific’s transcontinental railroad in 1883, many early Yellowstone visitors often came long distances by stagecoach—and that wasn’t always safe. In 1872 a young Englishman named Sidford Hamp, who had spent the summer working on the second Hayden expedition documenting Yellowstone Park, told about a stagecoach robbery in a letter to his mother. Continue Reading →
A former Yellowstone National Park employee was sentenced Thursday in federal court in Maine to one year of probation and ordered to pay restitution and a fine for the embezzlement of cash from entry fee receipts paid by park visitors. U.S. District Judge Nancy Torresen ordered Danel Nickerson, 45, to repay $7,429 in cash that Nickerson embezzled from Yellowstone entry fees paid by visitors. She must also pay a $1,200 fine and a $100 court assessment. According to sentencing documents, the assessment and restitution have already been paid in full. Nickerson pleaded guilty in May to one count of embezzlement of government money. She was indicted in January in Casper, Wyo., but the case was transferred to her home state of Maine at Nickerson's request. Continue Reading →
A former Yellowstone National Park employee pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Maine to embezzlement of cash from entry fee receipts paid by park visitors. Danel Nickerson, 45, was indicted in January in Casper, Wyo., but the case was transferred to her home state of Maine at Nickerson's request. Court documents outlining federal prosecutors' version of events, to which Nickerson pleaded guilty, state that she stole at least $7,429 in cash from Yellowstone entry fees paid by visitors. The case against Nickerson apparently included video surveillance footage that would have been used as evidence at trial. Continue Reading →
A former concession worker from the Old Faithful area of Yellowstone National Park has been convicted in federal court on charges of possession of child pornography Continue Reading →