Three visitors to Yellowstone National Park were sentenced last month to short jail terms for unrelated misdemeanor violations, federal prosecutors said, emphasizing the need for safety on protected parkland.
Two visitors who strayed from clearly marked paths or roads in thermal areas at the park were each sentenced to seven days in jail, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming said late last month. A third visitor was sentenced to 10 days for driving under the influence of alcohol in the park, the office said.
The three were sentenced for public land violations that happened last fall, and their terms were handed down just weeks before the peak tourist season begins at Yellowstone, most of which is in Wyoming.
“The No. 1 priority is public safety, but natural resources are also important in places like Yellowstone National Park,” Lori Hogan, a public affairs officer with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Wyoming, said in an interview on Tuesday.
“More dangerous offenses, like thermal trespass or wildlife disturbance, could potentially lead to jail time, while minor violations might result in fines or warnings,” she said. “The public should understand the violations and their consequences before visiting.”
Walking on the thermal grounds at Yellowstone can be extremely dangerous, park officials said, because the ground is fragile and thin, and scalding water just below the surface can cause severe or fatal burns.
There are more than 15 miles of boardwalks for tourists hoping to observe Yellowstone’s thermal features, like geysers and hot springs. The clearly marked walkways protect the unstable environment as well, officials noted.
The viewing area surrounding Old Faithful geyser is one of the park’s most popular attractions, and that’s where park officials said Angela Flaherty, 44, of Seattle, strayed about 10 feet off the boardwalk and onto the cone of Old Faithful. Another park visitor recorded her actions on video, the authorities said. She was sentenced on March 19 to a seven-day term last month and ordered to pay $40 in mandatory court costs.
Yiyang Shen, 25 of Doraville, Ga., was sentenced on March 12 to seven days in jail. He drove off a road, parked his vehicle in a thermal area and walked in the prohibited area, prosecutors said. Mr. Shen damaged park resources, officials said. He will be on unsupervised probation for five years — and won’t be able to visit Yellowstone during that time — and he was ordered to pay $1,050 in fines and court costs.
Douglas Wolfley, 49, of Fairview, Wyo., was sentenced on March 18 to 10 days in jail after pleading guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol in Yellowstone, his third DUI conviction in 10 years, prosecutors said. He was placed on three years of unsupervised probation, during which he will be banned from the park, and was ordered to pay $3,050 in fines and court costs.
Tourists who receive sentences for violations at the park are not required to serve their terms in Wyoming, officials at the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. Usually, they serve them at a jail near where they live.
Mr. Shen said on Tuesday night that he had hoped to settle the matter with a fine, but he said that he respected the judgment because he had not followed the local rules.
Still, in his defense, he said that he had not known that driving off the paved roads was forbidden. At night, he said, he ended up in an area that he thought was a parking lot, because there was a hiking trail beside it. But it turned out to be a thermal area.
“The curb was not wide enough to park a car,” he said. “So to be safe at night, I parked far from the main road to avoid accidents.”
Mr. Wolfley, when reached on Tuesday evening, said that “the fines were pretty excessive and the punishment was pretty extreme.”
Efforts to reach Ms. Flaherty by phone and email on Tuesday night were not immediately successful.
Wyoming officials cited similar cases as warnings to tourists.
Last year, a tourist was sentenced to a week in jail for ignoring signs that said it was illegal to leave the boardwalk area. He crossed a fence to walk up a hillside to get closer to a geyser.
Also in 2024, the actor Pierce Brosnan, who walked in a thermal area, was ordered to pay a fine of $500 and make a $1,000 donation to Yellowstone Forever, a nonprofit partner of the park.
Nearly two dozen people have died — including one in 2016 — from burns suffered after they entered or fell into a hot spring at Yellowstone since the park opened in 1872, according to the United States Geological Survey.
Susan C. Beachy contributed research.
