Park Service Rangers Arrest Man

Date: June 15, 2011
Contact: Joan Anzelmo/Michelle Wheatley, 970-858-3617 ext.300

Colorado National Monument National Park Service rangers responded to report of a theft from an auto parked at the Lower Monument Canyon trailhead on June 5. Rangers discovered the theft took place approximately 70 feet outside of the Monument's boundary and thus turned the investigation over to the Mesa County Sheriff's Office.

Then on the afternoon of June 8^th, Colorado National Monument National Park Service rangers received a report of three more vehicles being broken into at the same trailhead within the Monument's boundary. One of the victims reported that her purse was stolen and someone had used one of her credit cards at two City Market grocery stores in Fruita and Grand Junction that afternoon. National Park Service rangers worked closely with City Market staff and received excellent surveillance photos of the suspect from City Market. After distributing the photos to multiple law enforcement agencies in the Grand Valley, an employee from the Grand Junction Police Department identified the suspect as Cody Lynn, age 25, of Fruita, CO.

On June 14th, a team of National Park Service rangers, police officers, a sheriff deputy and a BLM ranger executed a search warrant on Lynn's home in the town of Fruita. Lynn arrived home an hour after the search began and confessed to entering the three vehicles on the 8^th and using the stolen credit card at the grocery stores. Lynn was arrested under a federal arrest warrant and taken to the Mesa County Jail. State charges are also pending.

Mesa County Sheriff deputies, Fruita police officers, Grand Junction police officers and a BLM law enforcement ranger all assisted National Park Service law enforcement rangers with the investigation and arrest. Colorado National Monument Superintendent Joan Anzelmo said " it's a great tribute to the law enforcement agencies in our community who work together every day to solve crimes and keep citizens safe. We are grateful for their hard work."