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Show Vernal Express Wednesday, December 17, 2008 A3 ; . ... . r J. - - " - ' ':. '-'V?-' 'W4 - J.-, . , -to jr .... ' - ;V-. - - Mfh. 1 ;,-'-;rf:' ;;: fcri.Mffi-.rl I rflHartfl- immMi,n.iiT,iT.li.. .....-mm. jtto-:. Ti 1 Duchesne man pleads guilty to enticing teen over Internet A suspected drunk driver was not at fault in this crash Sunday afternoon, according to the Utah Highway Patrol. Trooper Luke Stradinger said the driver following the man tried to pass him in a no passing zone as he turned into a residential driveway, causing the crash. pected drunk driver hit by passing motorist Sus By Geoff Liesik Uintah Basin News Service A Duchesne County man has pleaded guilty in federal court to using the Internet in his efforts to get someone he thought was a 13-year-old girl to have sex with him. Gregg Stephen Bussey, 56, entered his guilty plea Friday in U.S. District Court to transmitting transmit-ting the name of a minor for the purposes of enticement. Bussey was indicted in June by a federal grand jury and charged with coercion co-ercion and enticement for illegal sexual activity. The initial offense carried a minimum mandatory federal prison term of 10 years. The offense of-fense Bussey pleaded guilty to carries a maximum penalty of up to five years in federal prison. In court papers filed Friday, Bussey admitted to using the Internet to transmit the name of someone he believed was a minor across state lines for the purposes of enticing her to have sex. The individual Bussey was involved with was actually an undercover police officer posing as a 13-year-old girl. According to state court records, re-cords, Bussey began chatting online on-line with the girlundercover officer of-ficer in late March. Investigators said that several times during their chats over the intervening months, Bussey made reference to the girl's age, showing that he knew she was a minor. Bussey also stated his intent to travel to Cedar City to meet the girl, contacting her to let her know he'd reserved a room at the Crystal Inn for them, officers said. Court records state that Bussey had told the girl during their chats "that he was going to take her away" to California and Texas, and that "she could stay with him without her guardians knowing." Bussey also allegedly detailed his desire to have sex with the girl during their online conversations and sent sexually-explicit videos of himself to her. He was arrested as he arrived at the Cedar City hotel where he was supposed to rendezvous with the girl. Iron County prosecutors charged Bussey in June with one count each of attempted child kidnapping, attempted rape of a child, attempted sodomy on a child, and attempted sexual abuse of a child, three counts of enticing a minor over the Internet, Inter-net, and 11 counts of lewdness involving a child. The state charges were dismissed dis-missed following the federal indictment. U.S. Magistrate Judge Brooke Wells has ordered Bussey to undergo un-dergo a psychosexual evaluation. He is scheduled to be sentenced on April 10. By Geoff Liesik Uintah Basin News Service A man suspected of driving drunk did not cause the rollover crash he was involved in Sunday afternoon on U.S. Highway 40 between Myton and Roosevelt, the Utah Highway Patrol said. Trooper Luke Stradinger said 52-year-old Douglas Conetah of Myton was driving below the posted speed limit. He was being followed by 58-year-old Floyd Farnsworth of Vernal. Stradinger said Farnsworth decided to pass Conetah just as Conetah turned off the highway into a residential driveway. The trooper said when Farnsworth's car broadsided Conetah's truck it caused it to roll onto its side. Conetah, who was believed to be under the influence of alcohol, was ejected and partially pinned under his truck. Witnesses to the crash and emergency medical personnel were able to rock the truck up and pull Conetah free, Stradinger said. Farnsworth and Conetah were taken to Uintah Basin Medical Center by ambulance, where they were treated for minor injuries and released. Stradinger said Farnsworth's wife and son, who were passengers in the car, were uninjured. Farnsworth was cited for passing in a no passing zone. Stradinger turned the DUI investigation inves-tigation over to Bureau of Indian Affairs law enforcement because Conetah is a tribal member and the crash occurred in an area designated as tribal trust land. Leader of 'sham' American tribe sentenced to jail time By Geoff Liesik Uintah County Sheriff Warrants List As of 8 a.m., Dec. 15, the following individuals are wanted on outstanding warrants in Uintah County. If anyone has information on these individuals please contact Central Dispatch at 789-4222. 6l v . - -in'"10' 'itinmi- ""CO , . cjri or? Troy Scott Adams is wanted on a $5,000 warrant Tyler David Denning is wanted on three warrants totaling $13,664 Ricardo Francisco Rubio is wanted on a $10,000 warrant. Areas near parks dropped from BLM gas lease sale By Mike Stark Associated Press SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The Bureau of Land Management has dropped more than half the parcels par-cels it originally proposed for an oil and gas lease sale next week, many of which were criticized because of their proximity to southern Utah national parks. The agency's final list for the Dec. 19 sale was released Friday and includes 132 parcels totaling 164,000 acres. The sale has been controversial contro-versial since details were first announced Nov. 4. The BLM at that time proposed lease sales on 359,000 acres in Utah. . After the proposal was criticized criti-cized by the National Park Service, a fellow federal agency, and environmental groups, the BLM removed more than 37,000 acres near Utah's national parks. Another 80,000 acres in western Utah were dropped so the agency can conduct an environmental analysis. Other parcels were taken off the list out of concern for wildlife, cultural resources, and potential conflicts with existingcoal mines, said Megan Crandall, a BLM spokeswoman. One of the remaining parcels in the sale is adjacent to Dinosaur National Monument near Vernal with the agreement of the Park Service, Crandall said. Patrick O'Driscoll, a Park Service spokesman in Denver, said Friday's final list reflects an agreement worked out two weeks ago about what parcels should and shouldn't be leased. "Our primary concern all along were those parcels that were so close to national parks," he said. Environmental groups, the Outdoor Industry Association, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and others protested protest-ed portions of the proposed sale, saying drilling threatened some of the most prized landscapes in eastern Utah. Stephen Bloch, a staff attorney attor-ney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Wil-derness Alliance, says the final list from the BLM still includes some of Utah's most spectacular lands, including parcels near the White River, Desolation Canyon and Nine Mile Canyon, which has thousands of prehistoric paintings paint-ings and rock carvings. The proposal is a "fire sale" for industry in the waning days of the Bush administration, he said. Crandall said the BLM removed re-moved parcels below the rim of Nine Mile Canyon. Others on a plateau above the canyon remain on the list. Uintah Basin News Service A man who claims to be the leader of an American Indian tribe he co-founded in a Utah restaurant has been ordered to serve four months in jail for ' burglary and attempted lewdness involving a child. Dale N. Stevens, 70, was sentenced last Tuesday for repeatedly entering a trailer home on May 19, 2007, where a 12-year-old girl was sleeping. Deputies make six DUI arrests Uintah County Sheriff's Deputies took six individuals to jail this weekend for driving under the influence of alcohol. The arrests resulted from traffic stops and one accident. The- Sheriffs Department would liketo remind citizens that with the holiday season comes an increase in impaired drivers. Law enforcement is concerned with this and will pursue those individuals who are impaired by alcohol, drugs, or a combination of both and get behind the wheel and drive. In addition to impaired driving, driv-ing, another concern this time of year is the quick changing weather conditions in the Uintah Basin. As the snow begins to fall, drivers need to remember to use caution when driving by reducing reduc-ing their speeds and increasing the following distance between vehicles. During at least one visit, the girl said, Stevens was wearing only underpants. At a jury trial in October 2008, Stevens said he entered the trailer because the girl was alone and he was worried about her safety. But Stevens also testified at an earlier preliminary hearing that he'd secured the right to marry the girl in a barter with her mother for half a cooler of energy bars. Deputy Uintah County Attorney Attor-ney Greg Lamb told juror s that at one point Stevens told the victim "she was his and it was time she started acting like a wife." Stevens claims to be chief of the Wampanoag Nation, a group he formed in 2003 with other individuals in-dividuals at an Arby 's restaurant in Provo. The group, which is not affiliated with the federally-recognized federally-recognized Wampanoag Tribe in Massachusetts, was declared "a complete sham" by a federal judge in Salt Lake City earlier this year. In addition to jail time, Stevens Ste-vens was ordered to spend six years on supervised probation, pay a $1,000 fine, pay for any counseling the victim may need, and undergo any treatment recommended rec-ommended by Adult Probation and Parole. Stevens said at last Tuesday's hearingthat he intends to appeal his conviction. He continues to maintain that he is a tribal member, mem-ber, and therefore not subject to the jurisdiction of state courts. But Stevens legal troubles in Uintah County are not yet over. He is also facing charges of obstruction of justice, sexual exploitation of a minor, and forgery in a separate case. Prosecutors Pros-ecutors allege that Stevens aided a convicted sex offender in his flight from, authorities in Iowa and that he had images of child pornography on his computer. A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for Wednesday. 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