A man who engaged in illegal guiding and violations of closures in Yellowstone National Park has been sentenced on seven counts relating to those activities, given a jail term, fined, and banned from the park for five years.
60-year-old Theodore Garland of Edmond, Oklahoma appeared in front of Magistrate Judge Mark L. Carman in Mammoth Hot Springs, on July 2nd for sentencing. Altogether, Garland was charged with 15 counts of illegal activities and violating national park regulations.
Garland had posted a social-media page, a podcast, and a guidebook with overlapping pictures and posts about his guided tours in Yellowstone National Park, which violated closures and other park regulations and encouraged visitors to do the same.
Some of the examples included providing unauthorized guided tours; trespassing on thermal grounds; violating swimming closures and cliff jumping; creating “hot pots in rivers;” and disturbing wildlife.
At sentencing, the government requested that Garland be imprisoned for 30 days on all counts; pay a fine of $750 for each count; make a Community Service Payment of $750 for each count; five years of unsupervised probation; and that he receives a ban from Yellowstone National Park for five years.
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