High On Life Case Slowly Pushes Ahead

After another phone conference with the Yellowstone Justice Center, the High On Life case has barely budged toward resolution—or any convictions.

According to K2 Radio, the four defendants (Charles Ryker Gamble, Alexy Andriyovych Lyakh, and Justis Cooper Price-Brown of British Columbia, along with Hamish McNab Campbell Cross of New Zealand) and their attorney (Tom Fleener of Fleener Law, based in Laramie, Wyoming) spoke with U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Carman Monday. The last conference call happened July 7.

The case started in May, when the four men left the boardwalk at Midway Geyser Basin and went walking on the bacterial mats. The men were quickly linked to a British Colombian clothing/lifestyle company called “High On Life.” They were visiting Yellowstone on an apparent tour of the national park system and documenting their antics throughout. The men later fled back to Canada when officials issued warrants for their arrests. Other parks and federal entities have come forward with charges for the men, alleging misconduct in places like Mesa Verde and Death Valley National Parks.

Fleener has maintained throughout the process that his clients don’t deserve jail time. From K2 Radio:

During Monday’s status conference, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Pico said his office is still working with other jurisdictions where High on Life has allegedly violated rules about public lands at Death Valley and Mesa Verde national parks, and on U.S. Bureau of Land Management land in Utah.

Pico wants all the cases resolved in Wyoming because the attorneys are from Wyoming.

The federal government has served a search warrant on a memory card, he added.

The minutes of the 12-minute status conference did not detail what is happening in other jurisdictions, nor did it reveal what was found on the memory card.

The federal government still seeks restitution, but no amounts have been suggested, according to the minutes.

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Their public Twitter site went dark after the Grand Prismatic Spring incident in May, and returned July 10 with more photos and stories from their travels.

They appear to remain defiant when on July 31 they quoted Ayn Rand: “’The question isn’t who is going to let me, but who is going to stop me.’”

After serving the search warrant via memory card, all parties agreed to host a follow-up conference September 6.