Illegal Hunting (sentence)

[thumpper]

Saw this in KETV.com Wish I new the entire reasoning or what transpired in the investigation.. Sounds like they were guiding possibly??


Nebraska Man Gets Home Detention For Illegal Hunting - Omaha News Story - KETV Omaha


Nebraska Man Gets Home Detention For Illegal Hunting

POSTED: 2:16 pm CDT May 20, 2008
UPDATED: 2:23 pm CDT May 20, 2008


LINCOLN, Neb. -- A 56-year-old Crab Orchard man has been sentenced to a year of home curfew for the unlawful killing of two turkeys.

Paul Payton was sentenced in federal court to 12 months of home curfew, similar to home detention, and five years of probation. He pleaded guilty in February to violation of federal game laws.

Payton is prohibited from hunting, guiding, outfitting or helping in those activities while on probation.

Payton and his co-defendant, Kent Hippen, have also been ordered to reimburse the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the cost of the investigation. In lieu of that, Payton is to make a $15,000 contribution to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and a $5,000 contribution to Nebraska Raptor Recovery.

[HAMMER]

Here is the Omaha World Herald story on it.


Game-law violations mean end for guide
BY DAVID HENDEE
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER


LINCOLN — A hunting guide may leave his rural Nebraska home only for work, medical care and church during the next 12 months, a federal judge said Monday.

The home curfew was a special condition U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf placed on Paul R. Payton of Lewiston in sentencing him for violating federal game laws.

Kopf ordered no fine but sentenced Payton to five years' probation and ordered him to pay half of nearly $13,000 in reimbursement to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the cost of the investigation.

Payton also must contribute $15,000 to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and $5,000 to Raptor Recovery Nebraska.

His co-defendant in the case, Kent Hippen of Virginia, Neb., received a similar sentence last week. They operated Nebraska Trophy Whitetails, a guiding and outfitting business.

The men were charged with turkey-hunting violations but were part of a larger pattern of similar abuses of game laws, according to federal reports. They were indicted after a two-year covert investigation, known as Operation Stateline.

They pleaded guilty in February to felony violations of a federal law that prohibits guides from helping clients illegally kill wildlife.

According to court records, Hippen took an out-of-state client to a Nebraska field along the Nebraska-Kansas border in April 2003. The hunter killed three wild turkeys. The Nebraska limit was one, but Kansas had a two-turkey limit.

Hippen put a Nebraska tag on one bird and Kansas tags on the others, making it appear that the client had shot one turkey in Nebraska and two in Kansas. Payton admitted knowing about the scheme.

Presenting evidence in February, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Everett said the guides took undercover federal agents and others on a number of illegal hunts in Gage, Jefferson, Johnson and Pawnee Counties in Nebraska and Marshall County, Kan.

Payton's probation sentence prohibits him from any form of hunting, guiding and outfitting. Fishing is permitted. As a convicted felon, he can't possess a firearm. Payton also must perform community service.

Payton, who is in his mid-50s, made a brief apology to the court.

"I'm sorry, your honor," he said.

[Bigfowler]

Its too bad they dont have stiffer penalties for these kind of violations.

[elkstalkr]

Originally Posted by Bigfowler

Its too bad they dont have stiffer penalties for these kind of violations.

HOLY CRAP! What do ya wanna do to the guy, hang him??!!

I don't agree with his actions, but certainly $33, 000 in fines, a year home "jail", community service, and a felony rap sheet seems to be justice enough for me. Plus, he'll most likely never guide again. I am not siding with the defendent, but its not like he killed a person. Remember he was only convicted of helping illegally kill a couple of turkeys.

Thank God the judge had enough sense to keep him out of jail/prison for any extended period of time. Putting poachers in prison is a complete waste of taxpayers money IMO.

[obert1]

I'm in favor of extremely stiff fines for repeat offenders like this. I can see making a couple of mistakes, but if you're making 8, 9 or 10 plus violations and still hunting, I think you should be paying a very hefty price. IMO, people like this are taking away a lot from others and potentially causing some very dangerous situations. If these guides don't care about the game laws are they concerned about shots the clients are taking? I pay for each tag I get, if they are over limiting is this not a form of theft?

Just my personal opinion here.

[Honker Bonker]

holly cow he got hammered. I would like to know the rest of the story. Sure seems funny to me that a guy that didn't pul the trigger was the one who took the rap. Was he making his clients think they were in Kansas when they were actully in Neb.? Are Kansas out of state permits cheaper than Neb.? Or maybe the client posed as a Kansas resident. Either way stiff penalty for a dirty old bird.

[skullclnr]

$33,000 whould teach them a leason. I think they should also cut their trigger finger off!

[elkstalkr]

Originally Posted by obert1

I'm in favor of extremely stiff fines for repeat offenders like this. ...........................I pay for each tag I get, if they are over limiting is this not a form of theft?

I agree and I think in this situation the punishment fit the crimes very well.

[obert1]

Honestly I don't know enough info on this one. These types of deals are hard to understand what all went on or what is true and what isn't. Normally though it's pretty tough to convince innocence of repeat offenders. Only thing I hate to see on these things is these types of guides/outfitters doing the same thing in a year or two, sometimes even in the same area/state! IMO that shouldn't ever happen. Seems to be an ever-growing problem in this country, not only with guides but everything. There is a rash of transportation brokers stealing from people in Cali right now. They steal 10K, then change their name and address, do it again and move on. I've seen lately certain guides doing the same thing. That is the part I'm concerned with more than anything.

[Slatusa]

I bow hunted with these guys after getting back from Iraq. I spent part of the morning in a stand they took me to, after setting there for awhile I seen something didn't look right for the plates on the cars and trucks on the highway to my north. After a Kansas state trooper drove by is when it dawned on me where they had taken me to. They had me hunting in Kansas while holding a Nebraska permit. So I did the smart thing and got down out of the tree and waited for them to come back and pick me up. After getting back to my room I promtly asked them if I was in Kansas. I was shocked when they told me only by a few hunder yards and there was nothing to worry about. I asked for a full refund which I did get back and left and then talked to a friend of mine who works for Nebraska game and parks. Now that I see this posting those 2 have gooten what they had coming. To be honest I wish the state of Kansas could have gotten their hands on them also after everything I have read here.

[skullclnr]

WOW, it really makes you wonder how long they had been doing this. It really stinks to be a honest sportsman who pays his dues, buys his licenses, and obeys they laws to then have pieces of shi$ like this take advantage and exploit the environment for their own benefit.

[Bigfowler]

Originally Posted by elkstalkr

HOLY CRAP! What do ya wanna do to the guy, hang him??!!

I don't agree with his actions, but certainly $33, 000 in fines, a year home "jail", community service, and a felony rap sheet seems to be justice enough for me. Plus, he'll most likely never guide again. I am not siding with the defendent, but its not like he killed a person. Remember he was only convicted of helping illegally kill a couple of turkeys.

Thank God the judge had enough sense to keep him out of jail/prison for any extended period of time. Putting poachers in prison is a complete waste of taxpayers money IMO.

What would you want done to the guy if those turkeys came from your spot??? and its just a couple of Turkeys today.....just a couple of deer tomorrow and just a couple of whatever.....Stiffer penalties might help, they might not but I bet you would think twice about doing something like this if they were stiffer.


Where there is smoke there is fire.....these charges I would bet is what he was caught doing.

[elkstalkr]

Bigfowler,

STIFFER FINES!!! Dear lord, how much do you need to fine someone for 2 turkeys. $33,000 sounds like some DAMN expensive birds to me. (plus the other punishments) He will certainly be paying for that for a few years, unless he is independently wealthy.

My spot, your spot, anybodies spot. Makes no difference. They were MY turkeys, they are public property which he stole and paid for as he should have.

Your probably right, he most likely did other things, BUT this was all he was convicted of. This is the way our justice system works, THANK GOD. If they can't prove it then your innocent. Would you want it any other way???

Furthermore, I am guessing $33,000 is not your typical punishment for illegally killing 2 turkeys, its probably way less than that. I am sure the judge took into account surrounding circumstances when he dealt this out.

[shthr12]

repeat offenders

according to the article, these arent repeat offenders. it says that they were only charged with the two violations.

im not defending them, and it does sound like they are doing this on a pretty regular basis, but you might be amazed at the lengths the usfws will go to to sting guides. some of the charges ive seen are downright entrapment. the bullspit part is that they arent even paying a fine (except to the raptor program, which is bogus to me anyways) that will go to improve anything, theyre just reimbursing the government for the $'s they spent setting them up. if the federal government wants to get involved in investigating game law violations here, thats good, im glad they are, but dont screw us out of money for violations on the animals that this state has spent resources managing.

if they were smart, they wouldve talked them into hunting in kansas, and bringing the birds back into nebraska with a nebraska tag on them. then they could have gotten them on the lacy act, which would make it a real federal case.

as far as the punishment? i do think its quite stiff. if i had a friend here from out of state that wanted to shoot a turkey, id gladly let him fill one of my tags, once. its about the same. bottom line, what they did was illegal, and they did deserve a fine, but this is like a cop pulling you over, and then saying that on top of the ticket, your going to pay his wages, and gas for the time he took to pull you over.

[obert1]

Presenting evidence in February, Assistant U.S. Attorney Alan Everett said the guides took undercover federal agents and others on a number of illegal hunts in Gage, Jefferson, Johnson and Pawnee Counties in Nebraska and Marshall County, Kan.

This sure looks like repeat offenders to me. Now if I'm wrong my view will be different, but it sure seems like these clowns are doing this over and over again. I guess IMO the fine is justified depending on what "a number of illegal hunts is." If this one incident is the case then yes the fine is outrageous. But if they've been doing this since day one of opening, well then it's possible they got off light. Just not enough info here. It does appear that this was going on with deer as well though. The way I look at it is that it is getting harder and harder for me to afford to hunt Nebraska. I pay for my tags, hunt where I should, respect others, etc. etc. Whether you are leasing, have your own outfitting service, hunt your own private or public land; I'd be willing to guess none would be very appreciative of an IA,SD,CO or KS guide taking his clients on Nebraska soil to fill their tags from a different state. If someone is going to make hunting/fishing a business, fine, it is that person's choice to do so. But this IMO is theft. Theft of KS and NE resident property and priveleges we are given as residents of our respective states.

It's hard to say from the information we are given. But it looks like maybe the law officials had a lot more on them and possibly plead to these charges and these fines?