BRETT TOLMAN: Mountain runner facing prison for using trail bureaucrats secretly deemed off-limits
Picture this: you lace up your shoes, take a breath of fresh mountain air, and hit the trail in the Grand Tetons National Park. You complete a legendary speed record in the world of ultra-running, and fellow runners are celebrating you. Then, you're slapped with a federal crime.
Sounds like a joke, right? Sadly, it's real—and it's happening now to Michelino Sunseri, a 32-year-old bartender and record-setting mountain runner.
Sunseri ran a trail that hundreds if not thousands before him had done: he took a well-worn trail, one that's been used for decades by hikers, climbers, and runners alike. There was no gate. No park ranger stopping people. Just a tiny sign about "erosion" half-hidden in the sagebrush. But that was enough for the National Park Service to charge him with a federal crime.
Now, Sunseri is looking at up to $5,000 in fines, a possible six months in federal prison, and worst of all—a permanent criminal record. To add insult to injury, he could also be banned from the Grand Tetons National Park, the mountains he loves, for the next five years.
This isn't justice. This is overcriminalization.
Sunseri should not be a criminal. He didn't vandalize or hurt anyone. He ran a trail. He did not damage the trail, and he was open about it. He posted his record-breaking run on a digital app, and that's when government bureaucrats decided to make an example of him.
When federal bureaucrats act as lawmaker, judge, and jury, there's little any of us can do. As a former federal prosecutor, I can tell you that the Department of Justice wins 90% of its cases. And too often, there is no common sense, no grace, no understanding. Just raw, unchecked power.
And here's the truth: it can happen to you.
When the government creates a maze of vague rules and hidden signs and then prosecutes people who violate them without knowing and without intent, it's not justice. It's about power and control.
Sunseri's case is a warning to all of us. It shows what happens when Americans are expected to follow rules they can't even see. No one in the entire federal government keeps track of them all, but we estimate there are more than 300,000 federal statutes and regulations that carry federal criminal penalties.
And remember, once convicted of a federal crime there is no expungement of your record. Even if you're pardoned, your criminal record follows you for a lifetime and prevents opportunities for housing, education and employment.
Sunseri's case isn't about a trail. It's about the growing divide between everyday citizens and an out-of-touch bureaucracy that thinks it knows best. It's about the erosion of liberty in the name of government authority.
We cannot sit back and let this continue. Government overreach is real, and this case is Exhibit A. We need laws written by elected lawmakers—not unaccountable federal agencies. We need clarity, not hidden signs and gotcha rules. And above all, we need a justice system that remembers the difference between a criminal—and a man who just loves to run in the mountains where he lives.
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