News Release
US Park Rangers conduct mounted horse patrol in a busy parking area in Grand Canyon National Park.
News Release Date: June 8, 2018
Contact: NPS Investigative Services Branch (ISB), 202-379-4761
After pleading guilty to violations including theft, interfering with agency functions, and possession of controlled substances, two people will serve time in prison and must pay court fines. Maeve McLaughlin, age 32, was sentenced to three terms of six months imprisonment (concurrent), and Louis Riccardi, age 31, was sentenced to three terms of three months imprisonment (consecutive) in addition to time served.
The charges stemmed from an incident on an evening in April 2018 when US Park Rangers conducted a welfare check for a man in Grand Canyon National Park. The man appeared to be sleeping in the driver’s seat of a pickup truck in the middle of a parking lot. During the contact, rangers observed drug paraphernalia on the vehicle’s dashboard. Rangers also contacted a woman who was traveling with the man and determined that she had an active arrest warrant in Florida for larceny. Special Agents of the NPS Investigative Services Branch were requested to the scene to assist with interviews and the investigation.
Court records show that identifying documents belonging to 16 different individuals were discovered during the inventory of the vehicle, along with marijuana, marijuana paraphernalia, and a syringe the subjects reported to be used for heroin injection. Riccardi told rangers that he had hidden a considerable quantity of the drug Oxycontin in his rectum, and that while being detained he consumed the Oxycontin. He was subsequently transported to an area hospital for a possible drug overdose. McLaughlin was also uncooperative with rangers and investigators. Additionally, two stolen bicycles that were in the bed of the pickup truck were returned to their rightful owner.
The case was prosecuted by the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona, and adjudicated by the US Magistrate for the US District Court of Arizona. Both McLaughlin and Riccardi were remanded to the custody of the Bureau of Prisons.
ISB: the Investigative Services Branch of the National Park Service
www.nps.gov/ISB
Last updated: January 10, 2023