A Colorado man was sentenced to jail and banned from Yellowstone National Park for five years after officials said he broke one of the cardinal rules of Yellowstone: Stay on the paved areas and walkways.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office of Wyoming, Joseph Aita of Colorado Springs walked off the trail and entered the protected area of Canary Spring in Mammoth Hot Springs.
Aita told KKTV that he and co-defendant Celia Aita walked into the protected area to follow the two children they were accompanying, who ran out onto the landscape.
“We stayed out there a little too long, and that was our mistake. We acknowledge that,” said Aita. “We didn’t think we did anything wrong because there were no signs, no boardwalks, no fences. So that’s what threw us off. . . . We were walking, and I knew, ‘oh boy, I’m seeing a crack,’ just like you crack snow. I’m like wait, wait this isn’t good.”
At his sentencing on Oct. 31, officials said he pleaded guilty to destroying a mineral resource and was sentenced to five years of probation, with a ban from Yellowstone National Park during that time. He was also fined $3,000.
Aita was sentenced to seven days in jail and was ordered to pay $60 in mandatory court costs and fees.
