The law finally caught up to James Bond — or at least the actor who used to play him. On March 14, 2024, former 007 actor Pierce Brosnan pleaded guilty in federal court in Wyoming to a single count of straying from a footpath in a thermal area of Yellowstone National Park. Brosnan was cited for allegedly standing off the path at Mammoth Hot Springs while having his photo taken. Brosnan was fined $500 for this infraction and ordered to donate $1,000 to Yellowstone Forever, a nonprofit organization.
But how did something so pedestrian — in the most literal of senses — become a federal crime? The answer is much more troubling than Brosnan’s momentary trespass. The Department of the Interior — the same agency that cited Brosnan and initiated his prosecution — got to make it up.
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