(Editor’s note: A criminal charge is merely an allegation that a defendant has committed a violation of the criminal law, and it is not evidence of guilt. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the state of New York’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.)
Assisting officers from other states
(Warren and Schenectady counties)
On Jan. 6, ECO Chris Valenty interviewed a resident of Glenville after receiving a request from Ohio conservation officers to assist with an investigation of an illegally killed doe. Valenty obtained the subject’s confession, and the subject admitted to shooting a doe deer without a valid permit for the animal. The information was turned over to Ohio conservation officers for prosecution. Also in January, ECOs Alan Brassard and George Lapoint assisted the Maine Warden Service in the investigation of a deer shot from the road in Allagash, Maine. The Maine Warden Service’s investigation had determined the deer was shot by a subject from Glens Falls, who had returned to New York the same night. Brassard and Lapoint interviewed the suspect and obtained a confession after evidence gathered in Maine was presented to the suspect. On Jan. 18, Brassard served paperwork to the subject on behalf of Maine authorities charging him with unlawful shooting/discharge from a public highway, unlawful possession of a wild animal, passing a tagging station without tagging a deer, and unsworn falsification. The officers found no violations of New York laws during either investigation.
Clams and beer, a perfect combination (Bronx County)
On Jan. 8, ECOs Michael Wozniak, Ryan Kelley, and Adam Muchow conducted fish market inspections in the Bronx looking for violations such as untagged shellfish, improper/unsafe storage of shellfish, and undersized fish. Three bushels of shellfish were seized and destroyed when the ECOs found clams being stored directly on the ground in a puddle of water. A summons was issued to the market for failure to prevent the contamination of shellfish. As the officers continued their patrol, Wozniak noticed three men walking with an overflowing shopping cart full of cases of beer. The ECOs stopped to inquire about the beer and noticed that in the distance, a rail car had been broken into. The three suspects were detained and ECOs Zachary Kochanowski and Connor Dodge, Amtrak Police, and CSX Railroad Police were contacted for assistance. Amtrak Police arrested the three suspects on charges including petit larceny, reckless endangerment, criminal possession of stolen property, and criminal trespassing.
Post-season deer hunting
(Westchester County)
On Jan. 8, ECO Kevin Wamsley was contacted by the Tarrytown Police Department reporting an individual who had shot a deer in a residential area and was in the process of cutting it up. Wamsley responded to the location, met with Tarrytown police officers, and was shown to an area under a deck with a large amount of blood and deer hair. Wamsley interviewed the suspect, who claimed he had shot the deer that morning because it had been eating a bush in his backyard. However, deer season in Westchester County had closed on Dec. 31. Wamsley found two piles of bait at the exact location where the deer was shot with a bow from the second floor balcony. The deer carcass and an ax that had been used to quickly cut the meat into smaller pieces was in the individual’s garage. The officers also found a bag of deer feed the individual admitted to placing in the backyard. The nearest neighboring house was only 73 feet from where the bow was discharged, and the individual did not have permission from either of the neighbors to shoot a bow within 150 feet of their homes. The individual was issued four summonses returnable to Tarrytown Village Court, including discharging a bow within 150 feet of a dwelling, illegally killing a protected species, hunting deer with the aid of bait, and taking of an antlerless deer out of season. The deer was seized and donated.
Deer poacher leaves easy trail
(Greene County)
On Jan. 10, ECO Mike Arp received information from an off-duty Windham police officer that a subject had shot a deer at a residence in Windham. Local police were on scene and had secured evidence and the firearm involved when Arp arrived. A bloody drag mark was visible in the snow going up the driveway and into the garage. The resident admitted to the ECO that he had shot the deer and the officers issued tickets for taking big game during the closed season and hunting big game without a valid license. The firearm and deer carcass were seized as evidence.
Polluter caught on town property
(Orange County)
On Jan. 11, ECO Jon Walraven received a call from the Town of Goshen Highway Department about piles of trash found dumped on town property. Walraven found several trash bags, along with tires and some furniture. Several packages among the trash contained the name and address of a potential responsible party. Walraven went to the address on the package and met with the property owner, who claimed responsibility for the trash and stated that her son was supposed to take the trash to the dump. Walraven interviewed the property owner’s son, who admitted to dumping the trash at the location because the transfer station was closed. Walraven issued the son a ticket for unlawful disposal of solid waste, which carries a possible fine of $15,000 per day, and instructed him to clean up the mess. The ticket is returnable to Goshen Town Court in February.
DNA testing leads to charges
(Washington County)
In November, ECO Steve Gonyeau was notified that a deer had been shot at 1:30 a.m. in a field in Fort Ann. Neighbors had heard the shot and witnessed a vehicle enter the field, load a deer and speed away. The officer found blood near tire tracks in the field and collected it as evidence. An investigation by Gonyeau and ECO Marcia Goodrich identified a suspect and led to a local venison processor, where a 10-point buck had been delivered with the tag of the subject’s mother. Matching trail camera photos of the buck were obtained from the property owner’s caretaker and compared. The officers seized the deer as evidence and took DNA samples from the meat and hide. When the ECOs met the subject, he admitted to taking the deer but stated that he did not shoot it at night and, since his regular-season buck tag was already filled, his mother went to the local Walmart to buy her hunting license to get a tag for the deer. The subject maintained that he did not shoot the deer at night. The DNA results confirmed a match between the blood gathered in the field and the evidence taken from the carcass. The subject’s mother confirmed he had shot the deer and she had given him her tag because she can’t hunt anymore. The shooter was issued tickets for shooting after hours, hunting with the aid of a light, taking an illegal buck deer, discharging within 500 feet of a dwelling, and illegal tagging. The mother was issued the same tickets as an accessory to the crime. On Jan. 16, both parties appeared in the Fort Ann Town Court where the shooter, who had previously stated he would pay his mother’s fines, agreed to a civil settlement and $1,332.50 in penalties, which included half of the cost of the DNA testing. His mother did not agree with the civil settlement proposed and her case was adjourned to a later date.
Lights out in Jamaica Bay
(Queens County)
On Aug. 16, ECOs Connor Dodge and Josh Jarecki were conducting late-night fishing checks along the North Channel Bridge in Queens County when they noticed the glow of headlamps along the shore of Jamaica Bay. The area has had a number of illegal clamming complaints, but the ECOs walked the shoreline and discovered a group searching for blue crabs. The officers waited on the shoreline until the crabbers were done for the night and checked to see if their crabs were within regulation size. As the individuals approached the ECOs, members of the group dropped a 5-gallon bucket, a bag, and another storage container full of crabs and continued walking toward Dodge. Jarecki had stayed back and watched as the group abandoned their catch. After some discussion, the group admitted that the crabs were theirs. The ECOs counted and measured 246 crabs, finding 105 crabs under the legal size limit, and 46 crabs over the legal limit. Four summonses were issued to members of the group – two for taking over the limit of blue crabs and two for possession of undersized blue crabs, all returnable to Queens County Court. The illegal crabs were returned to Jamaica Bay.
Bears are not pets
(Ulster County)
On Aug. 23, ECO Jeannette Bastedo responded to a complaint of a woman feeding black bears in the town of Hurley. When Bastedo arrived at the residence, one bear fled the property and a large male bear continued to feed from a dog food bowl on a raised deck. After several blasts of the siren on Bastedo’s patrol vehicle, the bear left the deck. Bastedo found multiple large bowls full of sunflower seeds and containers full of water on the deck. A mother bear and two cubs were spotted in a tree nearby. The woman responsible for feeding the bears said that if she took away the food, the bears might try to get into her house. Bastedo explained that feeding bears is prohibited because it causes the animals to become habituated to receiving food from people rather than from the wild, and as a result the bears can lose their natural fear of humans. The habituation of bears receiving food sources from humans unfortunately can result in negative incidents for bears and humans alike. Bastedo issued the woman a ticket for unlawfully feeding black bears, returnable to Hurley Town Court.
Stuck sea turtle
(Kings County)
On Aug. 24, ECO Robert Kaufherr received a call about a sea turtle stranded in the jetty along the Belt Parkway Bicycle Path in Brooklyn. Kaufherr located the turtle, but couldn’t reach it due to the 15-foot drop from the pathway to the slippery jetty. ECO Ryan Grogan arrived to assist and the two ECOs borrowed a ladder and rope from a construction crew working in the area to safely descend and retrieve the sea turtle. A rope was tied to a large bin and lowered down to the officers. The turtle was lifted to the bike path. The officers identified the turtle as a young loggerhead sea turtle and observed a fish hook caught in its mouth. The officers contacted the Riverhead Foundation to transport the injured animal to a rehabilitation center. The turtle was to be treated and reintroduced to the wild. The loggerhead sea turtle is listed as an endangered species that can live up to 70 years of age and reach weights of up to 1,000 pounds as an adult.
Skunk in a cup
Oneida County)
On the morning of Aug. 24, ECO Jeff Hull received a call from the staff at the Hampton Inn in Utica stating they had a juvenile skunk with an ice cream cup stuck on its head, running in circles in their parking lot. When he arrived, Hull found exactly that. The officer asked the large crowd of guests that had formed to step back as he placed a towel over the skunk and slowly removed the cup and plastic lid from its head. The skunk sprayed as soon as it was freed and ran off unharmed.
Short fluke
(Suffolk County)
On Aug. 25, ECO Nicholas Nicholas was on early morning patrol at Captree State Park in Islip when he observed two men fishing from a pier. When Nicholas asked whether they had caught any fish, the men said they had caught three. An inspection of their cooler revealed three fluke, but when Nicholas measured the fish, they were all below the legal length of 19 inches. The three fish were seized by Nicholas, and he issued one ticket for taking three undersize fluke.
The post New York Outdoor News Cuffs & Collars – Feb. 22, 2019 appeared first on Outdoornews.
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