Missing hiker who was found at luxury hotel donates $3,000 to help pay for search effort
The New Hampshire Department of Fish and Game has decided not bill the Massachusetts man for the unnecessary search and rescue after all.
A 70-year-old hiker who New Hampshire authorities searched for in the White Mountains in April only to find the Massachusetts man was in luxury hotel has donated thousands of dollars to help pay for the rescue operation, the Union Leader reports.
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Christophe Chamley, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, set off to climb Mount Adams and Mount Jefferson on April 22 with the intention of returning in the evening. He decided to stop his hike early and spend the night at the Omni Mount Washington Resort, but a message he sent to his wife updating her on where he was didn’t go through.
She reported him missing early the next day, triggering a search and rescue operation by New Hampshire Fish and Game officials until he checked in with his family later that morning.
Authorities considered billing Chamely for the cost of the search efforts, but Col. Kevin Jordan, who oversees the law enforcement division of the Fish and Game Department, told the Union Leader he is accepting the 70-year-old’s donation of $3,000.
The actual cost for the search was much higher, but the law enforcement official said Chamley will not be issued a formal bill.
“I could have still billed him, I just felt based on his remorsefulness, his respect, his understanding of the situation, and his promptness in get a $3,000 check off before he had to at that point showed all good signs and we had accomplished what we set out to do,” Jordan told the newspaper.
Read the full report at the Union Leader.
