(CN) — The rules at Yellowstone National Park apply to the famous and obscure alike. But if you violate those rules, it's a fair bet your indiscretions will be noticed if you post them to a social media account with more than 2 million followers.
Famed actor Pierce Brosnan pleaded guilty Thursday morning to a charge of foot travel in a thermal area at Yellowstone National Park after being cited in late 2023, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court for Wyoming.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephanie A. Hambrick sentenced the "James Bond" and "Remington Steele" actor to a $500 fine and a $1,000 community service payment. Hambrick dismissed a second charge of a closure violation without prejudice at the request of prosecutors in connection with the Nov. 1 incident.
According to the Department of Justice, Brosnan, 70, uploaded photos of himself to his Instagram account that showed him standing on a thermal feature at Mammoth Hot Springs. There were signs in the area that warned of danger and told visitors to remain on designated trails and boardwalks.
"The National Park Service reminds Yellowstone visitors that the ground in thermal areas is fragile and thin, and scalding water is just below the surface," the Department of Justice said in a release. "NPS encourages visitors to exercise extreme caution around thermal features by staying on boardwalks and trails."
Leaving the trail system at Yellowstone is considered very dangerous. More than 20 people have been killed over the years in some of the park's 10,000 geothermal pools, geysers, hot springs and other scalding natural phenomena.
In 2016, Colin Nathaniel Scott, 23, was walking with his sister about 225 yards from the boardwalk when he slipped and fell into a hot spring near Pork Chop Geyser. Authorities were not able to immediately recover his body due to the thermal dangers, the National Park Service reported at the time.
More recently, in 2021, a 20-year-old woman from Washington suffered significant thermal burns while rescuing her dog from Maiden’s Grave Spring and a 19-year-old suffered thermal burns in the Old Faithful area during a separate incident, according to the National Park Service.
In 2022, a park employee found part of a foot inside a shoe at the Abyss Pool in the West Thumb Geyser Basin. The foot was later determined to be that of Il Hun Ro, 70, of Los Angeles. Authorities did not release further details, but said they did not suspect foul play.
Possibly the earliest known thermal injury at Yellowstone occurred in 1870, shortly before it became a national park. Truman Everts, an explorer who had become separated from the Washburn-Langford-Doane expedition, suffered the injury. While sleeping by a hot spring in an attempt to stay warm, a burst of steam scalded one of his legs, according to the United States Geological Survey. Everts' ordeal lasted 37 days.
Many hot springs reach temperatures of more than 150 degrees Fahrenheit, wrote geophysicist Michael Poland for the survey.
"Everts’ injury is typical of hot spring incidents — it is the temperature that causes the harm," Poland wrote. "Especially at those elevated temperatures, just seconds of exposure can cause second- and third-degree burns. When a large percentage of the human body is so scalded, survival rates are low."
Everts survived, but when offered the opportunity to be Yellowstone's first superintendent, he turned it down.
Brosnan entered a not guilty plea Jan. 4, but a change-of-plea hearing was later set for Thursday. On Tuesday, Brosnan’s attorney, Karl G. Knuchel of Livingston, Montana, requested that the hearing be continued but Hambrick denied the motion.
Knuchel did not respond to requests for comment on Thursday nor did Department of Justice attorney Ariel Christine Calmes.
Thursday’s proceedings took place at the Yellowstone Justice Center in Mammoth, Wyoming, located in Yellowstone National Park, one of three federal courthouses in the state. Brosnan was authorized to appear remotely.
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