Canadian ‘High On Life’ Guys Lawyer Up; They’re Charged With Yellowstone Park Violations
The four men charged with leaving a designated walkway at the Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park last month have hired a Laramie attorney, according to federal court records filed Friday.
Thomas Fleener is representing the men, who promote their Vancouver, B.C.-based company High on Life SundayFundayz by video-recording often inappropriate stunts in environmentally sensitive areas.
Fleener did not return calls seeking comment about whether the men will be returning soon from Canada to the United States and whether a plea deal is in the works. They would face the charges in the federal courthouse at Mammoth, YNP.
The defendants are Charles Ryker Gamble, Alexey Andriyovych Lyakh, Justis Cooper Price-Brown, and Hamish McNab Campbell Cross. They are charged with violating a regulation that requires people to stay on designated board walks or trails, and with creating or maintaining “a hazardous or physically offensive condition,” according to the criminal complaint. Both offenses are misdemeanors.
If convicted, they each face up to six months in jail and a $5,000 fine.
The men reportedly returned to Canada. Because their alleged offenses are misdemeanors, the federal government will not seek extradition, the Wyoming U.S. Attorney's spokesman John Powell said.
The case began Monday, May 16, when a park visitor reported to a park ranger that he saw several people off the boardwalk at Grand Prismatic Spring two days earlier. That visitor provided photos and a video.
Other park visitors reported seeing a High on Life Facebook page called “Sunday fundayz” with pictures posted of the four men, who have posted stunts at other parks, and in Peru and a Holocaust memorial in Berlin.