# Sentence ends poaching case



## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

Story available at http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles ... ngcase.txt

Published on Wednesday, December 17, 2008.
Last modified on 12/17/2008 at 12:53 am

*Sentence ends poaching case*
By GREG TUTTLE
Of The Gazette Staff

The last of three men at the center of what authorities called the "Huntley Poaching Project" has been sentenced.

Brandon Paul Hinebauch briefly apologized to state District Judge Russell **** before receiving a six-year deferred sentence for felony unlawful possession of wildlife. Hinebauch was also ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution to the state Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks and he lost his hunting privileges for five years.

**** suspended Hinebauch's hunting privileges for another four and a half years as punishment for two misdemeanor convictions for killing an antelope without a license.

"I'd just like to say I'm sorry," Hinebauch told the judge before he was sentenced.

The sentencing hearing closes a case that began in December 2005 when state wildlife authorities began investigating a poaching ring with two Huntley families at its center. The investigation was sparked when two state wildlife agents found four dead buck deer that appeared to have been shot from a public road. The heads were removed and the carcasses left to rot.

A few days later, wildlife agents received a tip that Hinebauch and others had killed a dozen animals in the past week. Agents were led to a Huntley residence on West D Road where they found the heads of numerous poached game animals.

State wildlife investigators said they eventually seized 50 big-game animal heads from the Huntley property. The poachers killed nine whitetail and mule deer bucks in a 45-day period, investigators said, often killing at night with the aid of a spotlight. Much of the poaching happened in the rural eastern and northeastern reaches of Yellowstone County.

The investigation resulted in misdemeanor criminal charges against 14 people. Hinebauch and two others were charged with several felonies.

Hinebauch, 23, was the last of the felony defendants to be sentenced. In October, John Paul Baeskens, 23, received a six-year deferred sentence and lost his hunting privileges for 15 years after pleading guilty to two felony charges and two misdemeanor offenses. Baeskens was also ordered to pay $12,000 in joint restitution.

The third felony defendant, Brandon Mitchell Fallang, 22, later pleaded guilty to five misdemeanor charges. At his sentencing in April, Fallang received a suspended six-month jail sentence and a $500 fine. He lost hunting privileges for two years.

Deputy County Attorney Christopher Morris on Tuesday described the poaching as an "offense to all sportsmen." Morris objected to a request from Hinebauch's attorney, Solomon Neuhardt, for a deferred sentence of 18 months.

In asking for the more lenient sentence, Neuhardt told the judge that the charges against Hinebauch are nearly three years old. Since he was charged, Hinebauch has been working as a truck driver making $7,000 a month and supports a wife and two young children, the defense attorney said.


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## Daren99 (Jul 6, 2006)

Oh no, they took his hunting privilages away there's a deterent to a poacher. Another slap on the wrist. What would they have to do to get jail time on one of these cases?


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## dakotashooter2 (Oct 31, 2003)

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"I'd just like to say I'm sorry," Hinebauch told the judge before he was sentenced.
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Sorry he got caught!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## barebackjack (Sep 5, 2006)

Daren99 said:


> Oh no, they took his hunting privilages away there's a deterent to a poacher. Another slap on the wrist. What would they have to do to get jail time on one of these cases?


But they took them for 15 years! Thats a step in the right direction.

How many of these end in loss of hunting privileges for 1-3 years? :eyeroll: 
Now thats a wrist slap. 15 years is more like a head slap.


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## Daren99 (Jul 6, 2006)

I agree it's a step in the right direction but will it really stop them? They seized 50 heads on their property. I don't think 15 years without a tag is going to phase them that much. I think a year or two in the the slammer and about $50000.00 in fines would be a deterent to someone thinking about doing this crap, but I can't see that happening.


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## HUNTNFISHND (Mar 16, 2004)

Daren99 said:


> I agree it's a step in the right direction but will it really stop them? They seized 50 heads on their property. I don't think 15 years without a tag is going to phase them that much. I think a year or two in the the slammer and about $50000.00 in fines would be a deterent to someone thinking about doing this crap, but I can't see that happening.


Exactly!

What good does it do to take away hunting privaleges from a poacher? :eyeroll:


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## Bob Kellam (Apr 8, 2004)

Guess I look at it this way. Enforcement officers caught these guys and with this sentence these dirt bags will be under a microscope by the enforcement division. Plus their names have made the Wildlife Violators Compact list.

They received a harsher sentence than they would have in ND with our present laws. Time will tell what the legislature brings to the table this session on this subject.


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## Dak (Feb 28, 2005)

By The Associated Press

Wednesday, December 17, 2008 8:00 PM MST

CHEYENNE -- People who repeatedly poach trophy game animals in Wyoming could face felony charges under a bill the state Legislature will consider in the session starting next month.

The Wyoming Game Wardens Association is pushing the bill. It would establish that anyone convicted of poaching certain trophy game animals for the second time within a 10-year period could face a prison sentence of up to 10 years.

The Interim Travel, Recreation, Wildlife and Cultural Resources Committee is sponsoring the bill.

Cara Eastwood, a spokeswoman for Gov. Dave Freudenthal, said Wednesday that the governor believes increasing the penalties for poaching would be good for the state. However, she said the governor has told the association that passing the bill would likely be difficult in the coming session.

Brian Nesvik, a game warden in Pinedale and president of the Game Warden's Association, said Wednesday he believes the bill has a good chance of success.

"It would make a great statement for the legislators and governor's commitment toward protecting wildlife, (and would) show a commitment on their part to ensure the long-term viability of a resource that's pretty darn unique," Nesvik said.

The bill would cover the following game animals: antlered deer, antlered elk, antlered moose, horned antelope, bighorn sheep, mountain goat, mountain lion, grizzly bear and black bear.

Nesvik said it's important for Wyoming to make a statement that it takes crimes against wildlife seriously, especially given the influx of many transient workers into the state.

Some prosecutors say areas of Wyoming have seen a rise in the wanton killing of wildlife as a result of the ongoing energy boom drawing young men into the drilling fields from other states.

"There's a real issue because of all the oil and gas exploration," said Brett Johnson, Sweetwater County attorney, in an interview this summer. "They're out there. There's very few other people out there, and there's a lot of wildlife. They don't think anybody's going to catch them, and most of the time, nobody does catch them."

A Tennessee man was convicted this summer in Sweetwater County for shooting a doe antelope several times with a semiautomatic rifle and sentenced to serve 100 days in jail and pay $6,000 in fines and restitution. In another case, a gas field worker was fined $6,000 after pleading guilty to deliberately driving through a herd of antelope in Sweetwater County last year.

Bob Wharff of Evanston, executive director of the Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, said he expects his group will be lobbying in favor of the bill.

"Most of the guys have kind of felt that after a second conviction like that it's probably time to start being a bit more aggressive with our punishment," Wharff said.

Wharff said his group draws a distinction between poachers and hunters. He said poachers commonly look for the largest animals and commonly kill them during closed seasons when they're relatively defenseless on their winter range. That deprives hunters of their chance to take trophy animals during established hunting seasons, he said.

"When somebody comes in and blatantly takes one on its winter range, when the animals are more vulnerable, it's more frustrating for those of us who have played the system, and played by the rules," Wharff said.

Rep. Pat Childers, a Cody Republican and co-chairman of the legislative committee that's sponsoring the bill, said the Game Warden's Association asked the committee to sponsor the bill. He said the committee agreed, partly because of outrage over poachers repeatedly killing bighorn sheep in the Big Horn Basin.

"I really think we need to do something about it," Childers said. "If they've been caught once before, and they've just decided they don't care, they're going to do it again, then we need to hit them a lot harder than we did in the past."


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## AdamFisk (Jan 30, 2005)

Bob Kellam said:


> Guess I look at it this way. Enforcement officers caught these guys and with this sentence these dirt bags will be under a microscope by the enforcement division. Plus their names have made the Wildlife Violators Compact list.
> 
> They received a harsher sentence than they would have in ND with our present laws. Time will tell what the legislature brings to the table this session on this subject.


Agreed. They got a decent punishment. Will losing their privelages stop these guys from shooting animals for 15 years? Probably not. But if/when they do it again, they have a pretty good shot at getting caught.

I can think of a lot more people I would like to see taking up a cell than some poachers.


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