When Ken “Taz” Stoner failed to show in court last
March, everyone suspected he had skipped town. Stoner was scheduled
to be sentenced for his role as the mastermind behind the
destruction of Quartzite Falls, a Class VI rapid in Arizona’s Salt
River Canyon Wilderness (HCN, 10/31/94).
But, as
a federal investigation later discovered, the former river guide
spent the three months prior to his disappearance amassing $300,000
and depositing it in an Australian bank. He ran up cash advances on
his credit cards, took out signature loans, cashed a home equity
loan and borrowed illegally against his 401k account. Then he
headed for the land down under himself, under an alias.
Following a year-long search, Australian
officials nabbed Stoner April 29 in Sydney when he gave his bank
the wrong fake identification while trying to withdraw $100,000 of
the extorted funds. Now the man who said he set off explosives on
five river trips to make Quartzite Rapids safer for river runners
faces additional charges of bank fraud and failure to appear in
court.
* Kristin
Atwell
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline River bomber discovered down under.
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