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Driver gets prison in park accident
Pennsylvania man pleads guilty to collision killing 2

By MICHAEL MILSTEIN
Gazette Wyoming Bureau

YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK, Wyo. - A federal judge has sentenced a Pennsylvania man to one year in prison for two counts of involuntary manslaughter stemming from a traffic accident that occurred while he was driving under the influence in Yellowstone National Park last fall, officials said.

Raymond Iseminger, 30, of Downingtown, Pa., was also ordered to pay almost $205,000 in restitution to the families of the two park visitors killed in the accident and survivors.

Iseminger was driving a Dodge Ram pickup truck east from Old Faithful near the West Thumb Junction on Sept. 9 of last year when the truck crossed the center line and struck head-on a Lincoln Continental traveling in the opposite direction, park officials said. There were four passengers in the Lincoln: Florence Heaps, 75; Arthur Heaps, 74; Harland Cook, 60; and Buela Cook, 68.

Florence Heaps was pronounced dead at the scene from massive injuries sustained in the accident. The three other passengers were transported to Lake Hospital and the Cooks were airlifted from there to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls.

Harland Cook died of his injuries several weeks after the accident.

Iseminger and a passenger in his pickup, Charles Fisher, 28, also of Downingtown, Pa., were treated at Lake Hospital and released.

Iseminger was charged with two counts of involuntary manslaughter after an investigation of the accident revealed that he had been under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs at the time of the accident, park officials said. They did not know specifically whether he was under the influence of alcohol or drugs or both.

Iseminger changed his plea from not guilty to guilty shortly before his trial was scheduled to begin in March.

On June 12, a federal court judge sentenced him to 12 months and a day in prison for each of the two counts of involuntary manslaughter, to be served concurrently. Upon release from prison, he will be placed on supervised probation for three years and will be required to pay almost $205,000 in restitution to the families of the victims and survivors of the accident.

Updated: Wednesday, June 30, 1999
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