A Nevada County transient has been sentenced to 29 years and 7 months in prison by a federal judge in Sacramento for shooting and wounding a BLM ranger and CHP officer in June of last year. Federal prosecutor Heiko Coppola says 61-year-old Douglas Cole had been stopped by the ranger while Cole was driving on a closed dirt road on BLM land near the South Yuba River campground. The ranger gave Cole a warning and allowed him to leave without issuing him a citation. The ranger then continued up the dirt road and discovered Cole’s makeshift campground with two motorcycles, one of which had been reported stolen, the other with expired tags. He radioed help from the CHP officer…

click to listen to Heiko Coppola

Coppola says Cole was asked if he was armed, and he said he was…

click to listen to Heiko Coppola

Both officers have recovered. Cole was convicted in February. In sentencing, Judge Garland Burrell stated, quote, “The defendant has repeatedly demonstrated that he lacks remorse and has no respect for the law…He has a stunning lack of regard for anyone other than himself”.