A man who got lost while treasure-hunting in Yellowstone National Park in August of 2018 and had to be airlifted out is being required to repay the cost of the rescue.
The New York Times reports that Mark Lantis was convicted in 2019 for reckless disorderly conduct while hunting for the Forrest Fenn treasure.
He was sentenced to five years unsupervised probation, banned for five years from Yellowstone National Park, and ordered to pay $2,800 in fines to cover the cost of the rescue. He appealed the verdict twice, with the last being in early November.
The fine was upheld both times. Lantis says he plans to appeal again. Lantis was participating in the national search for the famed Forest Fenn treasure chest, worth over $1-million, allegedly buried somewhere in the Rocky Mountains. Other treasure hunters were charged and convicted for illegal activities while searching for the chest.
At least four people died searching for it. Fenn, was an adventure-loving art and antiquities collector who posted clues to the treasure’s whereabouts online and in a 24-line poem that was published in his 2010 autobiography “The Thrill of the Chase.” Fenn died in September 2020 at age 90. The treasure was ultimately found elsewhere at an undisclosed location in Wyoming in June of 2020.
- Curtis Canyon Ambassadors Report Close Calls with Unsafe Campfires - August 6, 2025
- Pet Goldfish Found Swimming in May Park Pond - August 5, 2025
- Fire Danger Elevated to Very High for Teton Area - July 30, 2025
