3 people fined, sentenced to jail for Yellowstone crimes

The following is a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the district of Wyoming.

MAMMOTH, Wyoming — Cody J. Cyson, of Minnetonka, Minnesota and Thomas L. Brown of East Hardwick, Vermont, each entered guilty pleas Monday in US District Court at the Yellowstone Justice Center in Mammoth, Wyoming, to the charges of entering a closed area in Yellowstone National Park and interference with an agency function. Both subjects had been charged on March 6.

Cyson received a sentence of six days in jail with credit for time served, a $250 fine on the charge of entering a closed area and a $250 fine on the charge of interference with an agency function, along with a $500 community service payment and $50 in special assessment.

Brown received an identical sentence.

Both Cyson and Brown are banned from entry into Yellowstone National Park for a period of five years and will serve five years of unsupervised probation.

Hanna F. Ponder, of Donnelly, Idaho, pleaded guilty to one charge of entering a closed area and was sentenced to six days in jail with credit for time served, fined $500, a $500 community service payment, $40 in special assessment and banned from Yellowstone National Park for five years and five years of unsupervised probation. She had been charged on March 6 for entering the bison closure are in the Reese Creek drainage of the park.

All three defendants appeared before and were sentenced by US Magistrate Judge Mark L. Carman.