A Virginia man stole a Yellowstone National Park heavy wrecker truck Saturday while drunk, plowed through a fence, fled on foot and when he was caught, pretended to be a U.S. marshal, court documents allege.
Alan Rawlings Bowling, 57, now faces nine criminal charges in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming and a potential maximum of 4.5 years in jail and $45,000 in fines if convicted on all counts. He pleaded not guilty Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephanie Hambrick in the Mammoth outpost of the federal court.
At about 4:40 p.m. Saturday, a man later identified as Bowling tried to buy a beer at the Old Faithful General Store in Yellowstone, but his credit cards were denied, according to an evidentiary affidavit filed Monday.
Five minutes later, someone called police dispatch to report a Mammoth Yellowstone Park Service Station heavy wrecker stolen.
When authorities arrived on scene, Yellowstone Park Service Station employees were following the wrecker on the public side of Old Faithful.
The truck traveled northbound out of the tourist zone surrounding the geyser, then turned around and cruised near the Old Faithful Lodge, then drove the wrong way on a one-way road before veering off the road and coming to a stop near the post office and ranger station, says the affidavit.
Into Bison Country
U.S. Park Ranger Christopher Maggiora arrived at the helipad behind the ranger station in a marked patrol vehicle with his emergency lights blazing, the document says. He noticed the heavy wrecker stopped in the field adjacent to the helipad.
Maggiora saw a Yellowstone Park Service Station driver running toward the wrecker, behind another male running toward the tree line to the south. The driver tried to chase the man, but another park ranger told him not to, Maggiora wrote in the affidavit.
Instead, two rangers chased the man on foot through the trees, across a road and behind a bus barn, the document says.
That region is easily described as bison country.
One ranger ordered the fugitive to the ground and placed him in a prone position of disadvantage, while Maggiora secured him in handcuffs. The first ranger searched the man, finding his wallet, among other things, says the affidavit.
The fugitive claimed to be “Nathan Patterson, undisclosed United States marshal,” the affidavit says.
The first ranger asked the man why he’d taken the truck.
“I needed the truck to get to the United States marshal’s headquarters,” the fugitive reportedly answered.
The man reeked of alcohol, Maggiora noted.
Get Him Back Here
The two rangers started taking the fugitive to the Mammoth Jail, but a supervisory ranger told them to bring him back to the service station so the drivers could decide if he was the same man who had stolen the truck, the document says.
Agents warned two Yellowstone Park Service rangers not to say the fugitive was the same man who’d stolen the truck unless they were 100% certain of it from the sight of him.
A ranger vehicle rolled past the two drivers, with Bowling sitting in the back seat with the window down so they could see his face. The drivers said they were 100% sure he was the one who stole the wrecker, the affidavit says.
The rangers took Bowling to the jail, where he reportedly refused to give a breath sample or perform field sobriety tests.
Agents sought a warrant for his blood.
Meanwhile, the wrecker’s resting place was marked at 183 feet from the road. It had driven through a large wooden fence, which the federal government owns, the document says.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
