Poachers sentenced
Incident sparks misdemeanor charges for local residents
By JESSICA KELLER
ARGUS OBSERVER
Wednesday, January 23, 2008 10:58 AM PST
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| Meat from three confiscated elk and 4-by-5 elk antlers retrieved from an illegal hunting operation in the Mill Creek Drainage area outside of Council in October of 2007 sit in the back of an Idaho Fish and Game rig. Of 13 people staying at the hunting party’s campsite, seven pleaded guilty to various misdemeanor charges for poaching activities. |
COUNCIL — Seven people, including five area residents, were sentenced for various misdemeanor charges earlier this month and in December after the Idaho Fish & Game busted an illegal hunting and poaching operation near the Mill Creek Drainage outside of Council.
Four of the seven sentences were handed down in the Third Judicial District Court in Adams County Jan. 7 for poaching activities in October 2007.
Lucas Fritts, Fruitland, 30, a teacher, pleaded guilty to wasteful destruction of game animals, resulting in a $500 fine plus court costs, a $750 civil penalty, $175 processing fee, 90 days in jail — suspended, 36-month hunting license revocation and 24 months probation.
He also pleaded guilty to failing to properly tag big game, resulting in a $500 fine with court costs, 90 days of jail — suspended, 36 months hunting license revocation and 24 months probation. The last charge he pleaded guilty to was transferring a tag to another, resulting in $500 fine with court costs; 120 days in jail, 100 suspended; 36 months hunting license revocation; and forfeiture of his hunting rifle, with the option to buy it back.
While Fritts had 100 of 120 days in jail suspended, in lieu of spending the remaining days in jail, he was ordered to complete 36 hours of hunter education classes giving presentations on Idaho Fish and Game hunting rules and regulations and how to properly dress field animals. He has to have that part of his sentence completed during his 24 months probation, Idaho Fish & Game Senior Conservation Officer Randy Martinez said.
He said Fritts’ probation sentences are concurrent, but during that time he cannot be in the field or at a hunting camp. Martinez said, however, Lucas Fritts’ hunting license revocation sentences are consecutive, for a total of nine years.
He was initially charged with six misdemeanors and one felony.
In addition to Lucas Fritts, his father, Steve Fritts, 55, Fruitland, pleaded guilty Jan. 7 to the charge of failing to validate his tag on a four-by-five elk he shot. He was sentenced to $500 fine, 90 days in jail — suspended, 24-months hunting license revocation and 24 months probation. He also was required to forfeit his rifle, with the option of buying it back. He originally was charged with four misdemeanors.
Michael Terry Fritts, 58, Weiser, was charged with possession and transporting game taken unlawfully, which he pleaded down to an infraction of transportation without evidence of animal’s sex tag, resulting in a $57 fine.
Another local man, Gary McCarney, 56, Payette, a school counselor, pleaded guilty to wasteful destruction of a game animal and transferring his tag to another. For the waste charge, he received a $500 fine, a $750 civil penalty, $175 processing fee, 90 days in jail — suspended, 36 months hunting license revocation and 24 months probation. For the tag transfer, he received a $500 fine, 90 days in jail, with 80 days suspended, 36 months hunting license revocation concurrent with the first one, 24 months probation and forfeiture of his rifle with the option to buy it back. In lieu of any time in jail, McCarney was ordered to complete 24 hours of hunter education classes, giving presentations on Idaho Fish & Game hunting rules and regulations and how to properly dress field animals. McCarney was initially charged with an infraction and four misdemeanors.
“He was kind of the leader of the deal,” Martinez said.
A fifth local man, Richard Durrington, 51, Parma, pleaded guilty Dec. 17 to wasteful destruction of a game animal, for a $500 fine, $750 civil penalty, $175 processing fee, 36 months license revocation, 24 months probation and forfeiture of rifle, with the option to buy it back. He initially faced two misdemeanor charges.
Also Dec. 17, two other people were sentenced for their participation in the poaching ring.
Randall McCarney, 50, Nampa, pleaded guilty to wasteful destruction of a game animal, resulting in a $750 civil penalty and a $300 fine, and hunting without a tag, which led to a $500 fine, license revocation of 36 months and 24 months probation and forfeiture of his two rifles. He was initially charged on four different counts.
Randall McCarney’s wife, Heather McCarney, 42, Nampa, pleaded guilty to waste on one count, which resulted in a $500 fine and $750 civil penalty, $175 processing fee, 36 month license revocation, 24 months of probation and forfeiture of rifle. She also pleaded guilty to failing to properly tag big game, netting her a $250 fine, and transferring a tag to another for a $200 fine. Martinez said Heather McCarney initially faced five different misdemeanors, including two for shooting a fawn that was near a doe she shot.
Martinez said the illegal hunting activities had been taking place for at least one year before Idaho Fish & Game personnel and Adams County Sheriff’s Office deputies raided a camp situated in the Mill Creek Drainage area and issued a number of citations to the people involved.
Martinez said the group — consisting of 13 people and all family and friends — set up a big camp at the Mill Creek location, and it was pretty effective.
He said group members would situate themselves at the top and the bottom of the drainage areas, and the two groups would work their way in, spooking elk and communicating via an open radio system, and in code, regarding where the elk were spotted.
“I think that’s how some of these guys killed two or three elks this (hunting season),” Martinez said, adding the group members would shoot the elk and worry about tags later on.
He said while many of the charges were dropped in plea agreements, the Adams County judge and district attorney trying the case do not tolerate party hunting, and the penalties for the charges the seven pleaded guilty to were good.
Martinez said the hunting operation started a year or two ago, but it took some time to figure out where the group was stationed and where they were hunting because when communicating via radio, the group members referred to the geographic landscape through code, which took some time to decipher.
He said in 2006 he even issued a warning for people not taking out all edible meat from the animals. He didn’t return undercover until 2007 with a mapped out geographic area and camp site.
Martinez said, last hunting season, he staked out the area used for the poaching and the camp set up, Oct. 25, and documented activities and listened to the group members’ radio communications.
“So it was pretty easy to tell who was doing what, but yeah, it was pretty bad hunting ethics,” he said.
On Oct. 26, Martinez and a co-worker returned to finish documenting the group’s activities, and that afternoon, Idaho Fish & Game staff and sheriff’s deputies issued the citations.
Martinez said the group members illegally killed five elk this year — a six-point bull, a 4-by-5 elk, a 2-by-2 elk and two other spikes. When butchering the animals, he said, the group members didn’t take all of the meat required by state law, instead focusing on the legs and back straps.
