# Ohio wildlife officers face multiple charges



## jci63

Michigan resident linked to controversy- "Wright's home address was also used in 2001 by John D. Coffin of Michigan, who is not a wildlife officer, to purchase a resident Ohio hunting license. Vaughn did purchase a non-resident Ohio hunting license in 2007, using his South Carolina address." http://www.cleveland.com/outdoors/in...r_top_col.html

Ohio wildlife officers face multiple charges

By MISTY MAYNARD, Staff Writer | Posted: Monday, April 5, 2010 8:15 pm

GEORGETOWN, Ohio -- Six employees of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources were indicted Friday by a Brown County grand jury on charges ranging from tampering with records and falsification to obstructing justice.

Prompting the charges is an incident that allegedly occurred between Nov. 5 and Dec. 30, 2006. It was between these dates that Allan Wright, wildlife officer for Brown County, allegedly falsified records kept by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources by allowing a South Carolina officer to use Wright's home address in Brown County when purchasing a hunting license, said Mike Shelton, chief of legislative services for ODNR.

By using Wright's address, the South Carolina officer, identified as Eric Vaughn, purchased an in-state hunting license rather than an out-of-state license. A in-state license costs $19, while an out-of-state license is $125, Shelton said.

Shelton said an internal investigation was completed by ODNR administrators following the 2006 incident and a verbal reprimand was issued to Wright. However, by failing to refer the case for prosecution, five administrators "ignored the criminal violation of falsification," according to a report of investigation issued by the State of Ohio's Office of the Inspector General. According to the report, the basis for the investigation was a confidential informant who filed a complaint with the OIG on Sept. 30, 2009, two years after the verbal reprimand was issued.

Wright has been charged with two counts of tampering with records and one count of falsification.

Division of Wildlife Chief David Graham, Law Enforcement Administrator James Lehman, Human Resources Administrator Michele Ward, District 5 Manager Todd Haines and Assistant Chief of ODNR Division of Wildlife Randy Miller were each indicted on one count of obstructing justice and one count of complicity to obstruct justice each.

According to the report of investigation, administrators "said that they never recognized or considered Wright's actions could be criminal and decided to handle the matter as a policy investigation."

"During Wildlife's investigation, Officer Wright claimed that this is a common practice and supervisors approved or had knowledge of Wildlife officers providing resident hunting licenses to nonresidents," according to the report. "No one from Wildlife ever verified Wright's claims that the practice was widespread. In fact, we found that this claim is not true."

Administrators classified Wright's violation as a "failure of good behavior for disobeying an unspecified division directive and issued him a verbal reprimand," according to the report.

"We found there was not agency directive prohibiting the issuance of a resident license to a nonresident until October 2008, well after this violation occurred," according to the report. "The more appropriate classification of dishonesty by willfully falsifying an official document was not considered. Wildlife administrators also violated the governor's and ODNR policy by failing to report suspected illegal activity to the ODNR director or his designee."

As of Monday, Shelton said all of the six indicted remained at work and have not been placed on any kind of leave.

Shelton said he is not aware of any charges filed against the South Carolina officer. According to the report, it was Wright's idea to put his home address on Vaughn's license application to allow him to receive a resident hunting license.

The OIG made two recommendations in the report, which ODNR has six days to respond to with a plan.

The first recommendation is that ODNR update its suspected illegal activity policy to mirror the Governor's Procedures for Notification of Employee Wrongdoing and/or Suspected Illegal Activity.

The second recommendation is that ODNR should internally review actions of all employees involved to determine whether their conduct warrants further administrator action or training.

Shelton said no action has yet been taken on the recommendations.

Tampering with records is a third-degree felony, while falsification is a first-degree misdemeanor.

Obstructing justice and complicity to obstruct justice are both fifth-degree felonies.

http://www.maysville-online.com/news...cc4c002e0.html

Other stories on the issue:

http://www.cleveland.com/outdoors/in...r_top_col.html

http://news-herald.com/articles/2010.../nh2318765.txt

Here in Michigan they don't get prosecuted, they get transferred!


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## jci63

UPDATE: Indicted Wildlife employees placed on paid leave

Staff report

Six Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife employees who were indicted last week have been placed on paid leave pending resolution of the accusations levied against them in Brown County, according to an ODNR spokesperson.

"We are going to place all six employees on administrative leave, effective this evening through the end of the court proceedings," Mike Shelton, Chief of ODNR's Office of External Affairs, said Wednesday afternoon.

The agency is currently looking at temporary employee reassignments to ensure that the services and responsibilities normally handled by the indicted individuals are still taken care of, Shelton said.

A Grand Jury indicted Brown County Wildlife Officer Allan Wright last week for two counts of tampering with records and one count of falsification. Wright is accused of allowing South Carolina resident Eric Vaughn to use Wright's home address on an application for a hunting permit in November of 2006, effectively reducing the cost of the permit by $106. Wright is additionally accused of personally checking in three deer killed by Vaughn and intentionally providing his own home address, rather than Vaughn's, on the tags.

In addition to Wright, five other ODNR Division of Wildlife employees - all in supervisory positions - have each been charged with two fifth-degree felony counts because they allegedly failed to initiate a criminal investigation once allegations against Wright became known to the Division. Division of Wildlife Chief David Graham, Assistant Chief Randy Miller, Law Enforcement Administrator James Lehman, District 5 Manager Todd Haines and Human Resources Administrator Michele Ward-Tackett have each been indicted on charges of obstruction of justice and complicity to obstructing justice.

All six defendants were summoned to appear for arraignment Monday in Brown County Court of Common Pleas, and each defendant was released on a $10,000 own-recognizance bond after the hearing.

The defendants are expected to appear in Common Pleas Court on April 21.

http://newsdemocrat.com/main.asp?Sectio ... eID=130531


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## jci63

South Carolina Officer Vaughn killed 2 does and a button buck in Ohio. So, he signed his license and three deer permits claiming to be a resident of OHIO. Doesn't matter if Wright input the information, Vaugh signed it under penalty of law. And Vaughn acknowledged that he noticed that his license showed Wright's address before he signed it.

Wright came to SC for two years and was found to have violated numerous trapping laws. However, SC DNR only gave him a warning. Vaughn was also found to have violated a trapping law in SC at the same time but he was not ticketed, warned, or disciplined.

While Wright was in SC here, Vaughn admits to being with Wright while he was trapping, and Vaughn was present when Wright left with illegal pelts. Yet he claims to have seen no infractions. Wright made thousands of dollars while here and got to keep all of it. Didn't even pay a fine.


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## jci63

SC DNR Officer Eric Vaughn willfully falsified an official document by signing his license. Officer Vaughn is not now, nor has he ever been, a resident of Ohio.

A records check of hunting licenses issued to Eric Vaughn in Ohio revealed that in 2006, Vaughn was issued an Ohio resident hunting license, which listed his home address as the home address of Allan Wright. The fee for a resident hunting license is $19, while the nonresident license is $125.00

The Ohio Division of Wildlife receives no taxpayer or General Revenue Funds ("GRF"), but is funded through revenue from license and permit fees. So because of Vaughn's actions your fund was fraudulently compromised.

A "resident" is a person who has resided in the state of Ohio "not less than six months next preceding the date of making application for a license."2 All others are considered "nonresidents" and must purchase nonresident licenses.

The ODNR Wildlife hunting license application form clearly states that "providing fraudulent information is a violation of 2921.13 of the Ohio Revised Code." A violation of this section is classified as a misdemeanor of the first degree.

"Ohio Revised Code section 2921.13A (5) Falsification; states "no person shall knowingly make a false statement, or knowingly swear or affirm the truth of a false statement previously made, when any of the following apply:&#8230; the statement is made with purpose to secure the issuance by a governmental agency of a license, permit, authorization, certificate, registration, release, or provider agreement."

Wright admitted he was friends with SCDNR Officer Eric Vaughn, and that he had assisted Vaughn with obtaining an Ohio resident hunting license in
2006 during a hunting trip in Ohio.

On July 30, 2008, USFWS reported to the Ohio Wildlife Law Enforcement Executive Administrator that they found no evidence of misconduct by the USFWS officer. The USFWS report included Wright's admission of assisting Vaughn in obtaining the Ohio resident license.

Wright admitted that he assisted Vaughn in obtaining a fraudulent resident hunting license by advising Vaughn to use his (Wright's) home address as his own.

Wright also admitted checking in the three deer killed by Vaughn. Wright knowingly recorded a false address for Vaughn on the harvest report when he listed his address as Vaughn's.

An ODNR Customer Purchase History query of Wright's home address revealed Vaughn used Wright's address in 2006, but listed his own South Carolina address on a 2007 hunting license.

As part of this OIG investigation, a Customer Purchase History query of ODNR records was done to search for any other Wildlife officer's home address being used by others. All resident hunting licenses sold from January 1, 2006 to December 12, 2006 (308,592 records) were
extracted.

Eric Vaughn had the only record that did not have the same family name of the residence, and that had a previous or subsequent out-of-state address.

We found that Ohio Wildlife Officer Allan Wright admitted his part in obtaining a resident hunting license for his friend, South Carolina Wildlife Officer Eric Vaughn. It was Officer Wright's idea to put his home address on Vaughn's hunting license application to facilitate Vaughn receiving a resident hunting license. This act resulted in producing a fraudulent hunting
license and deprived Wildlife of additional revenue.

Providing fraudulent information on a hunting license application is a violation of the Ohio Revised Code, which is clearly stated on the
hunting license application.

http://watchdog.ohio.gov/investigations/2009340.pdf


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## tradorion

JCI63- i have been following your other posts here and other places and can usually see where you have cited your information- however in none of the sources you cite can i find the validation of this portion.

Would you please cite your source regarding:

Re: Ohio wildlife officers face multiple charges
by jci63 » Wed Apr 07, 2010 8:37 pm

South Carolina Officer Vaughn killed 2 does and a button buck in Ohio. So, he signed his license and three deer permits claiming to be a resident of OHIO. Doesn't matter if Wright input the information, Vaugh signed it under penalty of law. And Vaughn acknowledged that he noticed that his license showed Wright's address before he signed it.

_*Wright came to SC for two years and was found to have violated numerous trapping laws. However, SC DNR only gave him a warning. Vaughn was also found to have violated a trapping law in SC at the same time but he was not ticketed, warned, or disciplined.

While Wright was in SC here, Vaughn admits to being with Wright while he was trapping, and Vaughn was present when Wright left with illegal pelts. Yet he claims to have seen no infractions. Wright made thousands of dollars while here and got to keep all of it. Didn't even pay a fine.*_

Thank you-

T


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## jci63

http://watchdog.ohio.gov/investigations/2009340.pdf

South Carolina Officer Vaughn killed 2 does and a button buck in Ohio. So, he signed his license and three deer permits claiming to be a resident of OHIO. Doesn't matter if Wright input the information, Vaugh signed it under penalty of law. And Vaughn acknowledged that he noticed that his license showed Wright's address before he signed it.

_*Wright came to SC for two years and was found to have violated numerous trapping laws. However, SC DNR only gave him a warning. Vaughn was also found to have violated a trapping law in SC at the same time but he was not ticketed, warned, or disciplined.

While Wright was in SC here, Vaughn admits to being with Wright while he was trapping, and Vaughn was present when Wright left with illegal pelts. Yet he claims to have seen no infractions. Wright made thousands of dollars while here and got to keep all of it. Didn't even pay a fine.*_

Thank you-

T[/quote]


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## tradorion

Read til i am cross-eyed... watchdog and the other articles- what page on watchdog is that portion on please??


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## jci63

tradorion said:


> Read til i am cross-eyed... watchdog and the other articles- what page on watchdog is that portion on please??


Also where did you get this information you posted "i would advise you watching your step when you talk trash without knowing all your facts- i do know that Eric is most willing to meet people who choose to slander him in court to let the judge settle their disagreements." posted here - http://www.scducks.com/forum/showthread.php?t=52546

*Did Eric Vaughn take anybody to Court for slander or are you making this comment to warn people?*


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## jci63

* Indicted wildlife officials have pre-trial hearing set*

The six Ohio Division of Wildlife officials each have up-coming pre-trial hearings set for the Brown County Common Pleas Court before judge Scott Gosweiler.

Each official is charged with felony indictments and also with a misdemeanor charge in the case of one defendant, their arraignments having been April 5.

Allan Wright - the state wildlife officer assigned to Brown County - will appear for his pre-trial hearing at 2 p.m., April 21.

Assistant wildlife division chief Randy Miller, Wildlife Division law enforcement administrator James Lehman, Wildlife District 5 (southwest Ohio) director Todd Haines, and the agency's human resources manager Michele Ward-Tackett all are scheduled to appear at 11 a.m., April 21.

David Graham - the Wildlife Division's chief - has his pre-trial hearing set for 8:30 a.m., April 27.

A pre-trial hearing is designed for the exchange of information between the county prosecutor and the defendants' attorneys. Often a second pre-trial hearing is held as well, a Brown County Common Pleas Court official said Thursday.

Pending the outcome of their legal matters each defendant was placed on paid administrative leave Wednesday by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources director Sean Logan.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
[email protected]

http://outdoorswithfrischkorn.blogspot.com/


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## jci63

GEORGETOWN - Six Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife employees are facing felony charges related to the alleged falsification of an address on a hunting permit.

Brown County Wildlife Officer Allan Wright is accused of allowing South Carolina resident Eric Vaughn to use Wright's home address on an application for a hunting permit in November of 2006. According to the State of Ohio Office of the Inspector General, records indicate that Vaughn paid $19 for a residential hunting permit, rather than the $125 fee that out-of-state hunters are typically required to pay.

Additionally, the Office of the Inspector General found that Wright personally checked in three deer killed by Vaughn and allegedly recorded his own home address on the tags.

Wright has served as an officer with the Division off Wildlife since May 17, 1993, according to an ODNR spokesperson.

During investigations by multiple agencies into the incident, Wright allegedly admitted to investigators that he suggested substituting his own address to Vaughn and assisted with obtaining the license, although he claimed that it has been common practice in Ohio to allow Wildlife Officers from other states to hunt with residential licenses, according to a report released by the OIG.

Vaughn was a Wildlife Officer in South Carolina and a resident of that state at the time the license was issued.

Last week Wright was indicted for two counts of tampering with records and one count of falsification. The record tampering charge is a third-degree felony punishable by up to five years in prison, and the falsification count is a misdemeanor carrying a maximum sentence of six months in the Brown County Detention Center, according to Brown County Prosecutor Jessica Little.

In addition to Wright, five other ODNR Division of Wildlife employees - all in supervisory positions - have each been charged with two fifth-degree felony counts because they allegedly failed to initiate a criminal investigation once allegations against Wright became known to the Division. Division of Wildlife Chief David Graham, Assistant Chief Randy Miller, Law Enforcement Administrator James Lehman, District 5 Manager Todd Haines and Human Resources Administrator Michele Ward-Tackett have each been indicted on charges of obstruction of justice and complicity to obstructing justice. Each defendant could face a maximum of 12 months in prison in addition to fines on each count.

All six defendants were summoned to appear for arraignment Monday in Brown County Court of Common Pleas, and each defendant was released on a $10,000 own-recognizance bond after the hearing.

All six individuals were still on the job as of Monday, according to a spokesperson for the Division of Wildlife. Mike Shelton, Chief of the ODNR Office of External Affairs, said the Department is working in cooperation with the Office of the Inspector General to determine if further training or personnel changes will be necessary, but no decisions have been finalized concerning the employees.

It is Shelton's understanding that a felony conviction would lead to termination of employment for the defendants.

The OIG launched an investigation into the allegations in September of 2009 after receiving a complaint from a confidential informant. During the course of the inquiry, investigators with the Inspector General's office discovered that the Division of Wildlife had already conducted an internal investigation of the complaint in 2008.

After the 2008 investigation, the Division of Wildlife administrators concluded that Wright's actions constituted a "failure of good behavior" violation of the Division's administrative policy. Wright was issued a verbal reprimand but no criminal charges were filed.

"Wildlife administrators said that they never recognized or considered Wright's actions could be criminal, and decided to handle the matter as a policy violation," the OIG's report states.

The Inspector General's report indicates Wright's assertions that allowing out-of-state Wildlife Officers to purchase in-state licenses was considered, but never verified by the administrators who conducted the Department of Wildlife investigation. The lack of verification and the administrators' failure to pursue criminal charges, including forwarding the complaint to appropriate supervisors as required by policies established by ODNR and Governor Ted Strickland, led to the charges against the administrators.

"We determined in this case that Wildlife Administrators ignored the criminal violation of falsification and decided to handle the violation with an administrative investigation," said OIG investigators in the report. "The investigation was incomplete because the claim that it was common practice to aid nonresidents in obtaining resident hunting licenses, and it was done with supervisor approval or knowledge, was not verified."

"We find Wildlife Officer Wright committed an act of wrongdoing. We also find that Wildlife administrators committed wrongful acts or omissions by failing to properly investigate Officer Wright. Wildlife decided to handle the matter as a policy violation, rather than a potential criminal violation."

The OIG did find, however, that Graham issued a memo on March 14, 2008, prohibiting Wildlife personnel from accepting out-of-state hunting licenses. Graham issued another memo on Oct. 1, 2008 prohibiting the issuance of in-state licenses to out-of-state residents.

Although Wright allegedly told investigators that "it has been common practice that in the southwest part of Ohio, officers from Kentucky and Indiana would hunt in Ohio using resident Ohio Licenses," OIG was unable to find evidence that such a policy existed.

OIG's investigators searched all records of hunting licenses listing a Wildlife Officer's home address during 2006 and concluded that "Eric Vaughn had the only record that did not have the same family name of the residence, and that had a previous or subsequent out-of-state address."

The report continues: "The results of this query demonstrate that other Wildlife officers are not making a common practice of allowing nonresidents to use officers' addresses to obtain a resident hunting license."

Additionally, Wright allegedly made several statements to investigators indicating that the courtesy was reserved only for wildlife officers. However, an ODNR Purchase History query of Wright's home address revealed that Michigan resident John D. Coffin had obtained an Ohio hunting license using Wright's address in 2001. The OIG investigators found that Coffin is an acquaintance of Wright, but is not a Wildlife Officer.

Furthermore, even if such a policy existed, the OIG investigators found that such a policy would not excuse the deliberate falsification of information on a hunting license application.

Hunting licenses are required of anyone who hunts or traps legal game in Ohio. Although hunting license applicants are not required to show proof of identification or residency, and although the information provided by applicants is not routinely verified, "the application form clearly states that 'providing fraudulent information is a violation of 2921.13 of the Ohio Revised Code,'" according to the OIG's report.

"Regardless, whether a policy existed at the time or not, Wright's actions constituted criminal activity, and Wildlife should have investigated it as a criminal matter," the OIG's report states.

License and permit fees are the main source of funding for the Division of Wildlife, which does not directly receive taxpayer or General Revenue funds.
During interviews with Graham, Miller, Lehman, Haines and Ward-Tackett, each individual allegedly admitted to investigators that Wildlife would pursue criminal charges against any civilian who obtained or attempted to obtain a hunting license using fraudulent information.

According to Brown County Prosecutor Jessica Little, "regular people are prosecuted routinely for the exact same offense."

"Just because you are a law enforcement officer does not make you special," she said.

Little noted that her office does not currently intend to pursue charges related to the 2001 issuance of a resident license to Michigan resident John D. Coffin, in part because statute of limitations restrictions may apply.

As part of the investigation, the OIG also looked into allegations that the Division of Wildlife administrators instructed officers not to assist or cooperate with a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigation. The OIG found those allegations were not substantiated.

Following its inquiry, the Office of the Inspector General forwarded recommendations to ODNR suggesting updates to the department's Suspected Illegal Activities Policy to Mirror the Governor's Procedures for Notification of Employee Wrongdoing and/or Suspected Illegal Activity, specifically suggesting that ODNR policy should require all suspected illegal activity be reported immediately to the Director or Chief Legal Council of ODNR.

The Inspector General's Office additionally recommended ODNR internally review the actions of all employees involved to determined whether their conduct warrants further administrative action or training.

The defendants are scheduled to appear in Brown County Court of Common Pleas on April 21.

The Office of the Inspector General's report is available online at watchdog.ohio.gov.

http://www.ripleybee.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1190&Itemid=1


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## tradorion

I know that he has taken someone to court before who he felt wronged him-although i do not know the outcome- i know he will do it again if need be.

now what page of the watchdog report was that on?


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## jci63

Thanks for the info I will check the Greenwood County Court Records and post back.

The Reports are in the document I quoted the info -http://watchdog.ohio.gov/investigations/2009340.pdf

SC DNR Officer Eric Vaughn willfully falsified an official document by signing his license. Officer Vaughn is not now, nor has he ever been, a resident of Ohio.

A records check of hunting licenses issued to Eric Vaughn in Ohio revealed that in 2006, Vaughn was issued an Ohio resident hunting license, which listed his home address as the home address of Allan Wright. The fee for a resident hunting license is $19, while the nonresident license is $125.00

The Ohio Division of Wildlife receives no taxpayer or General Revenue Funds ("GRF"), but is funded through revenue from license and permit fees. So because of Vaughn's actions your fund was fraudulently compromised.

A "resident" is a person who has resided in the state of Ohio "not less than six months next preceding the date of making application for a license."2 All others are considered "nonresidents" and must purchase nonresident licenses.

The ODNR Wildlife hunting license application form clearly states that "providing fraudulent information is a violation of 2921.13 of the Ohio Revised Code." A violation of this section is classified as a misdemeanor of the first degree.

"Ohio Revised Code section 2921.13A (5) Falsification; states "no person shall knowingly make a false statement, or knowingly swear or affirm the truth of a false statement previously made, when any of the following apply:&#8230; the statement is made with purpose to secure the issuance by a governmental agency of a license, permit, authorization, certificate, registration, release, or provider agreement."

Wright admitted he was friends with SCDNR Officer Eric Vaughn, and that he had assisted Vaughn with obtaining an Ohio resident hunting license in
2006 during a hunting trip in Ohio.

On July 30, 2008, USFWS reported to the Ohio Wildlife Law Enforcement Executive Administrator that they found no evidence of misconduct by the USFWS officer. The USFWS report included Wright's admission of assisting Vaughn in obtaining the Ohio resident license.

Wright admitted that he assisted Vaughn in obtaining a fraudulent resident hunting license by advising Vaughn to use his (Wright's) home address as his own.

Wright also admitted checking in the three deer killed by Vaughn. Wright knowingly recorded a false address for Vaughn on the harvest report when he listed his address as Vaughn's.

An ODNR Customer Purchase History query of Wright's home address revealed Vaughn used Wright's address in 2006, but listed his own South Carolina address on a 2007 hunting license.

As part of this OIG investigation, a Customer Purchase History query of ODNR records was done to search for any other Wildlife officer's home address being used by others. All resident hunting licenses sold from January 1, 2006 to December 12, 2006 (308,592 records) were
extracted.

Eric Vaughn had the only record that did not have the same family name of the residence, and that had a previous or subsequent out-of-state address.

We found that Ohio Wildlife Officer Allan Wright admitted his part in obtaining a resident hunting license for his friend, South Carolina Wildlife Officer Eric Vaughn. It was Officer Wright's idea to put his home address on Vaughn's hunting license application to facilitate Vaughn receiving a resident hunting license. This act resulted in producing a fraudulent hunting
license and deprived Wildlife of additional revenue.

Providing fraudulent information on a hunting license application is a violation of the Ohio Revised Code, which is clearly stated on the
hunting license application.



tradorion said:


> I know that he has taken someone to court before who he felt wronged him-although i do not know the outcome- i know he will do it again if need be.
> 
> now what page of the watchdog report was that on?


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## tradorion

my question still stands- on what page in the watchdog report are the portions that i highlighted in red??


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## jci63

tradorion - After reading several post on SCDUCKS.com it's obvious that you are a South Carolina DNR uke: man. Use your investigative skills and figure it out for yourself. I hope that your not involved in any of the problems, listed above. Read the document, I am sure they taught you how to read and comprehend the information.  YOU CAN DO IT!


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## jci63




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## jci63

*It is illegal to perform online transactions on behalf of another person. Providing fraudulent information is a violation of 2921.13 of the Ohio Revised Code.*


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## jci63

*South Carolina DNR Officer Eric Vaughn, according to the licensing info, provided fraudulent information to obtain his non-resident Ohio license. Therefore under 2921.13 Ohio Revised Code is guilty of a misdemeanor of the first degree under section, (F)(1) below!*

*Of all the information and articles on the net and in the Court, I am not able to find any charges filed against Vaughn! I ASK WHY???*

*2921.13 Falsification*

*(A) No person shall knowingly make a false statement, or knowingly swear or affirm the truth of a false statement previously made, when any of the following applies:*

*(A)(5) The statement is made with purpose to secure the issuance by a governmental agency of a license, permit, authorization, certification, registration, release, or provider agreement.*

*(F)(1) Whoever violates division (A)(1),(2),(3),(4),(5),(6),(7),(8),(10),(11),(13), or (15) of this section is guilty of falsification, a misdemeanor of the first degree.*


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## tradorion

Yes- I am a SC Game Warden- the question i am still asking is in my initial post I highlighted 2 sections in RED and my question still stand since i have read the watchdog report several times where is the information in RED located in the watchdog report?? what page please- or what other report is it located in please.

As for "why" Vaughn was not charged- I cannot tell you that. It is the discretion/perogative of OH to charge or not to charge. I know one piece of information that was available to them regarding what information was provided and how it was provided that I will not go into that may have very simply effected their decision to charge/prosecute.

And I will comment on it from another aspect- IF *YOU* came to South Carolina and you read something in the Rules and Regs that SCDNR prints and it gave you IN WRITING incorrect information and i caught you with illegal fish or game b/c of that misprint I HAVE NO CASE b/c while you did indeed break the law you did so with OUR handbook as your guidance.

BY THE SAME TOKEN- if you asked me as a Game Warden "Can I do legally do this?" and I told you YES and another Game Warden wrote you a ticket (and you were careful enough to have gotten my name and contact info) then you could subpoena me to testify in court in your defense (OR more realistically i would be contacted by that GW before court and say YUP- I did indeed give him bad information I was mistaken) and NO JURY ALIVE would find you guilty of the offense even though you did indeed break the law.

Now- I read just fine- but still do not see the two red highlighted sections so PLEASE get out your big crayons and show them to me.


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## jci63

*Looks like if South Carolina D.N.R. Officer Eric Vaughn fishes, he also violated South Carolina law!*

*(B) It is unlawful to obtain, attempt to obtain, or possess a South Carolina resident saltwater license while licensed for any purpose as a resident of another state.
*
*South Carolina Code of Laws*

SECTION 50-5-305. Requirements for obtaining resident license; penalty.

(A) To be granted a resident commercial saltwater license authorized under this chapter:

(1) an applicant must present a statement from the South Carolina Department of Revenue indicating the applicant filed a South Carolina income tax form as a resident for the previous calendar year, but a person under the age of seventeen is exempt from the requirement to provide such statement; or

(2) an applicant who did not file a South Carolina personal income tax form for the previous year must show documentation acceptable to the department proving the applicant was a resident of South Carolina for twelve consecutive months immediately prior to the date of application.

The applicant must also present an additional form of identification acceptable to the department.

(B) It is unlawful to obtain, attempt to obtain, or possess a South Carolina resident saltwater license while licensed for any purpose as a resident of another state.

(C) A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not less than two hundred dollars nor more than two thousand five hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than thirty days and must have his saltwater privileges suspended for twelve months.

http://www.scstatehouse.gov/CODE/t50c005.htm


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## tradorion

*iIF IF IF * is a huge word- IF you violated you may end up in court IF you did not violate you do ot....

does repeatedly ignoring my question mean you choose not to cite the source/location that i asked for'??


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## tradorion

and no thoughts on my comments as to why OH might not have chosen to charge Eric???

just another post on a law that Eric COULD HAVE violated (here is a hint- the entire Code of SC Laws contain laws WE ALLLLLL *"COULD HAVE"* violated). Whether you did or did not violate each and every aspect/section/subsection of a law (ALL of them not 2 out of 3 or 3 out of 4) is what determines if a crime was indeed committed.

So tell me- do you have an honest thought behind it or just a hard-on to stir things up inregards to Eric?

for the record- i am not "pals" "friends" "buddies" or even a close co-worker.... just a guy that sees Eric maybe 2-4 times a year as i travel and work around the state. This is not a personal effort to defend a close friend but rather the fact that i am not a fan of anybody getting railroaded and hassled- whether they wear a badge or not.

OHIO completed a MULTI-YEAR INVESTIGATION and charged multiple people- it was THEIR option or choice to charge/not charge Eric- the fact that they did not tells me something about how the case would have held up in a court of law.

T


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## jci63

*Maybe you can go hunting with in him in Ohio this year!*


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## tradorion

so you just answered my question...

you are atempting to do nothing but stir up mud in a decision already made to not make a criminal charge by the OH investigators.

And you choose not to provide the citation of the source for your trapping comments.

why is that? personal axe to grind at Eric's expense??


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## tradorion

maybe we can hunt Albino deer together after i finish up hunting in Ohio?? :rollin:


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## KurtR

not surprising look at what the feds did in MT shot a record book ram. Then tried to make a story up to charge the guy. Pretty bad when the people who are suposed to enforce the laws cant even follow them.


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## tradorion

JCI63- again- a very simple request... CITE THE SOURCE AND LOCATION for the following quotes PLEASE...

*Wright came to SC for two years and was found to have violated numerous trapping laws. However, SC DNR only gave him a warning. Vaughn was also found to have violated a trapping law in SC at the same time but he was not ticketed, warned, or disciplined.

While Wright was in SC here, Vaughn admits to being with Wright while he was trapping, and Vaughn was present when Wright left with illegal pelts. Yet he claims to have seen no infractions. Wright made thousands of dollars while here and got to keep all of it. Didn't even pay a fine.*


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## jci63

tradorion said:


> maybe we can hunt Albino deer together after i finish up hunting in Ohio?? :rollin:


*That would be awesome, it's now legal in Michigan. When you want to come bow or gun?*

*Sure wish I could get on SCDUCKS.com, but you and your buddy's don't like to hear about D.N.R. corruption in South Carolina.*



tradorion said:


> Yes- I am a SC Game Warden(here is a hint- the entire Code of SC Laws contain laws WE ALLLLLL "COULD HAVE" violated)


*It saddens me for a SC Game Warden to come on a public forum and admit "the entire Code of SC Laws contain laws WE ALLLLLL "COULD HAVE" violated", I would not agree with this statement. I'm sure there are many fine Game Wardens in South Carolina and Ohio! For you to group all D.N.R. enforcement into a group of law breakers is uncalled for. Just because your buddy Vaughn and from your own omission above, YOU, violate laws, doesn't mean every Officer sworn to uphold the law does. * :beer:


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## tradorion

OK- in case you did not grasp the concept i will get my big crayon out for you- the concept of "The Entire Code of SC Laws COULD BE Violated" means simply this--- every law that is on the books CAN BE violated- whether it is speeding, CDV, DUI, hunting without a license of whatever- I can violate them, you can violate them, the kid down the street can violate them.... that ties into your IF IF IF IF IF comment about how Eric might have violated another SC law by having a saltwater fishing license....

my point was that since you have no idea IF IF IF he has a saltwater license then saying he "COULD HAVE" broken the saltwater fishing license law is just like saying he COULD HAVE beaten his wife mistreated his horse or anything else- it is simply you blowing smoke to cloud the issue.

Now- would you pretty please with sugar on top- simply answer the question of the source and location for the trapping information?? It is not a difficult request... but it is indeed one that you keep ignoring and I think the reason why you keep ignoring the citation of the source is that either #1 there is no credible source or #2 the source is such that revealing it will put you and the source in a position to be called into court for the purposes of continued harrassment...

Soooo- CITE THE SOURCE brother.

As for SCDUCKS.COM- feel free to get on there- when you can list a credible gripe (as has been done before) then you can bash most anyone. BUT IN LIGHT OF THE FACT that the OH investigation has chosen to indict MULTIPLE people BUT NOT Eric.... methinks you need to find something else to whine about.


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## tradorion

_*It saddens me for a SC Game Warden to come on a public forum and admit "the entire Code of SC Laws contain laws WE ALLLLLL "COULD HAVE" violated", I would not agree with this statement. I'm sure there are many fine Game Wardens in South Carolina and Ohio! For you to group all D.N.R. enforcement into a group of law breakers is uncalled for. Just because your buddy Vaughn and from your own omission above, YOU, violate laws, doesn't mean every Officer sworn to uphold the law does.*_

what saddens me is that you were to stupid to grasp that _*WE*_ in this quote was NOT directed at SCDNR LE Officers but at the collective *WE* of *ALL PEOPLE*- it did NOT say only SC Game Laws it said ALLLLLL SC LAWS because every law on the books can be obeyed by people or it can be broken by people- and not every violation that occurs is done with criminal intent.

In some cases I have known citizens to break laws JUST TO GET CAUGHT so that they could force the isue in a higher court to overturn what they saw as an unjust law..... hmmmmmm- that sounds kinda familiar since you can now hunt albino deer.

By the way- you ever gonna get around to citing the source- or do you plan on continuing to slander a man with undocumented information????


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## jci63

tradorion said:


> In some cases I have known citizens to break laws JUST TO GET CAUGHT so that they could force the isue in a higher court to overturn what they saw as an unjust law..... hmmmmmm- that sounds kinda familiar since you can now hunt albino deer


tradorion -* Yes that does sound familiar, now look at the clarification!*

*Notice this part "However, all employees are to be advised that they must purchase the appropriate non-resident license/permit(s) in any state to be legally engaged in the pursuit of of fish or wildlife." "Secondly, we understand that many of you have friends from other natural resource agencies that come to Ohio to enjoy our great hunting and fishing. Unfortunately, the Division is not able to provide any free or discounted hunting , fishing, trapping or other wildlife related licenses and permits to your friends. As such, they must follow the same guidelines, rules, and regulations as any other out-of-state patrons."*


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## tradorion

MEMO DATES _*2008- 2 years after *_the incident you are so adamant that Eric be chared for..... this may come as a shock to you but most states can indeed at the department's discretion issue free licenses or offer breaks to whomever they choose- it is just usually reserved for special situations.

and are you ever going to point out where you got the information for the comments i highlighted in red??

pretty funny- i hope that when this is said and done your name ends up on the dotted line in a civil suit with anybody else who crossed points that were said and done and kept on badgering Eric.


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## jci63

*All public information!* :crybaby:



tradorion said:


> MEMO DATES _*2008- 2 years after *_the incident you are so adamant that Eric be chared for..... this may come as a shock to you but most states can indeed at the department's discretion issue free licenses or offer breaks to whomever they choose- it is just usually reserved for special situations.
> 
> and are you ever going to point out where you got the information for the comments i highlighted in red??
> 
> pretty funny- i hope that when this is said and done your name ends up on the dotted line in a civil suit with anybody else who crossed points that were said and done and kept on badgering Eric.


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## tradorion

if it's such public information then cite the source- you had no problem citing every other source you used so why not cite this "public information" as well?

It strikes me the way the grammar structure is set up in all the other reports and articles and then the shift in those paragraphs that they are not entirely/exactly copied from a public source or official document. The section highlighted in blue sounds like someone from South Carolina spoon feeding you personal issues- so what is the source for this "public information".

_*Wright came to SC for two years and was found to have violated numerous trapping laws. However, SC DNR only gave him a warning. Vaughn was also found to have violated a trapping law in SC at the same time but he was not ticketed, warned, or disciplined.

While Wright was in SC here, Vaughn admits to being with Wright while he was trapping, and Vaughn was present when Wright left with illegal pelts. Yet he claims to have seen no infractions. Wright made thousands of dollars while here and got to keep all of it. Didn't even pay a fine.*_

and again- please explain why it is that the Ohio Inspector General conducted a lengthy investigation and made multiple indictments but chose not to seek an indictment against Eric and you see need to moan and complain _*??from Michigan??*_ about the outcome.

It would seem to me that they did what they saw fit to do and that was what mattered.


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## jci63

tradorion - you really need to calm down here, your blood pressure is going up. Like any good journalist I do not have to recite my source on some things. Just because you are used to scarring citizens with your threats, doesn't mean you get your way all the time big fella! You sure seem to know about Vaughn's affairs for just be a distant friend. SO who's the one misleading who?

I do what I do because their is some corruption in DNR agency's across the United States. Yes I do it from Michigan, because that's where I live. NO SECRET. I will continue to post things for others to get educated on how these agency's have different rules and guidelines for their citizens then themselves. Law enforcement officers are not above the law!

If you or anyone else feel that you have been slandered on in this case libel per se, file suit, but keep in mind that you are public figures. If you need I can post some information on that if it's to hard for you to understand. :crybaby:


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## tradorion

you really need to calm down here, your blood pressure is going up. Nope- just thinks it is funny how you want to rail on him and cite things so specifically but when i ask for a source on a piece of information repeatedly you go silent.

Like any good journalist I do not have to recite my source on some things. When did blogging on the internet become akin to being a "good journalist" :eyeroll:

Just because you are used to scarring citizens with your threats, doesn't mean you get your way all the time big fella!  Show me a threat here and show me where i ever "SCARRED" a citizen other than when i popped up where they least expected me and gave them a SCARE.

You sure seem to know about Vaughn's affairs for just be a distant friend. SO who's the one misleading who? I am misleading noone- I know some of his case from casual conversation. I have never worked a single departmental case with him, i have never drank a beer with him, I have never hunted or fished with him. I may have had a meal at some traIning event with him but if so i do not recall it. I just don't like people talking smack about co-workers when they have not been charged. Had he been one named in the Ohio indictments and you wanted to tar and feather him _*IF HE WAS FOUND GUILTY*_ then i would have no problem with your stance. But the fact that he was not charged much less found guilty makes your stance offensive to me.

I do what I do because their is some corruption in DNR agency's across the United States. Yes I do it from Michigan, because that's where I live. NO SECRET. I will continue to post things for others to get educated on how these agency's have different rules and guidelines for their citizens then themselves. Please continue to do so when you find illegal activity- but what about granting a man the same constitutional rights to which you are entitled?

_*Law enforcement officers are not above the law! *_ *DING!! DING!! DING!!* we have a WINNER- and we totally agree here. However- Law Enforcement Officers are also entitled to the same rights and respect as any other citizen. I have seen SC GW's charged on more than one occasion for violations of the state's laws (game, speeding, and others) some were even terminated or their actions. Again- I have no problem calling a spade a spade i just don't like trash talking because you do not like the outcome of an investigation.

As for filing suit- I have no dog in the fight and was not slandered- I am taking the defensive side of this for the same alleged reasons you are crying wolf- you do not like the outcome of the OH investigation.... and I do not like you speaking poorly of someone who was neither charged following said investigation nor found guilty in a court of law. :bop:


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## Sasha and Abby

Trad has spoken... oke:


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## jci63

Top Ohio wildlife officials indicted

By Frank Hinchey
Contributing Writer
Published:
Monday, April 12, 2010 1:31 PM CDT
Georgetown, Ohio - The chief of the DNR Division of Wildlife, an assistant chief and four other DOW officials were placed on paid administrative leave after being indicted on felony charges.

Five employees are accused of failure to pursue a criminal investigation of a wildlife officer charged with assisting a South Carolina wildlife officer to purchase a $19 Ohio resident hunting license instead of a $125 out-of-state license.

Indictments of obstruction of justice and complicity to obstruction of justice were returned April 2 in Brown County against DOW Chief David Graham, Assistant Chief Randy Miller, Law Enforcement Administrator James Lehman, Human Resources Administrator Michele Ward-Tackett, and District 5 Manager Todd Haines. The charges carry a maximum penalty of up to 5 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Wildlife Officer Allan Wright was charged with three felony counts of tampering with records and a misdemeanor count of falsification. The felony counts carry a maximum penalty of up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine.

Wright admitted to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife investigator he allowed a South Carolina wildlife officer to use Wright's home address in 2006 on a Ohio resident hunting application. Providing fraudulent information on a hunting application is a first-degree misdemeanor. Wright later admitted to a DOW investigator he checked three deer killed by Eric Vaughn in Ohio and recorded his own Ohio address and badge number on the harvest reports.

All six employees of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources pleaded not guilty to the charges April 5 in Brown County Common Pleas Court. The were placed on paid leave two days later, said Mark Shelton, ODNR chief of external services.

"The public service provided by Division of Wildlife and Ohio Department of Natural Resources are not going to suffer while these personnel investigations go forward," Shelton said. A felony conviction prohibits a person from state employment and loss of a state pension, Shelton said.

*
Graham, addressing the Ohio Wildlife Council in early April, echoed that sentiment, calling these "extraordinary circumstances."

"I want to assure Wildlife Council that the Division staff is strong and capable and has the support of the director," he said.

DOW Assistant Chief Jim Marshall will serve as acting director while the court cases are pending, Shelton said.

"It smells bad the farther up you go," Brown County Prosecutor Jessica Little said. "If you see a crime you should report it."

The governor's office and watchdog unit should be commended for its four-month investigation, Little said.

The 17-page Inspector General's investigative report found Wright admitted his role in obtaining an Ohio resident hunting license for a friend, Vaughn. The IG concluded "DOW administrators failed to investigate the deception as a criminal matter."

Wright claimed the practice of granting resident hunting licenses to out-of-state-wildlife officers was a common courtesy acknowledged by DOW officials, according to the IG report. IG investigators have since found no evidence the DOW officials attempted to verify if such a practice existed during an administrative and disciplinary investigation of Wright in 2008.

Graham, Miller, Ward-Tackett and Haines told the IG they did not regard Wright's actions as criminal because the practice of obtaining Ohio hunting licenses for out-of-state wildlife officers was a common practice and supervisors had knowledge or approved the practice. They also acknowledged to the IG if a civilian provided fraudulent information on a hunting license, criminal charges would be pursued against the individual.

In 1996, the Ohio DOW granted several requests for complimentary hunting and fishing licenses to West Virginia and Kentucky wildlife employees and, in turn, the West Virginia Department of Fish and Wildlife Services granted requests for complimentary hunting and fishing licenses from the Ohio DOW, according to documents obtained by Ohio Outdoor News.

IG investigators for the state watchdog checked all 308,592 Ohio hunting licenses issued in 2006 and compared addresses to Ohio's 155 wildlife officers.

Vaughn "had the only record that did not have the same family name of the residence, and that had a previous or subsequent out-of-state address," the OIG report stated. "The results of this query demonstrate that other wildlife officers are not making a common practice of allowing nonresidents to use officers' addresses to obtain a resident hunting license."

The IG found that Wright also used his own address to assist an acquaintance, John Coffin of Michigan, obtain an Ohio hunting license in 2001.

Because Coffin is not a wildlife officer, this conflicted with Wright's assertion to investigators that granting resident licenses to out-of-state wildlife officers, especially Indiana and Kentucky, was common DOW courtesy, the IG report stated.

*Vaughn reimbursed Ohio for the license fee difference, said Col. Alvin Taylor, director of the South Carolina DNR law enforcement division.*Taylor described Vaughn as a good officer who was not aware he had done anything wrong while hunting in Ohio.
*
The South Carolina DNR investigated Wright in 2007 for alleged trapping violations in South Carolina and issued Wright a warning letter for failure to comply with administrative reporting procedures, Taylor said.* In addition, a federal wildlife investigator interviewed Wright on a complaint about alleged misconduct by an FWS officer.

During the South Carolina investigation, Wright admitted to the federal investigator he helped Vaughn obtain an Ohio resident hunting license in 2006. The federal investigator's findings were sent to the Ohio DOW, which investigated in 2008 and found no criminal wrongdoing.

Tackett agreed to classify Wright's actions as "failure of good behavior" requiring a verbal reprimand, the IG report stated. Graham agreed with the recommendation, and Miller felt Wright's action was not dishonest because Wright "didn't willfully set out to do that," according to the IG report.

"It is unclear how Wildlife could proceed with an administrative investigation and discipline if, at the time of the offense, there was no policy prohibiting Wright from taking part in providing a resident license to a nonresident," the IG report concluded.

In March 2008, Graham issued a memo requiring Ohio DOW employees to purchase out-of-state license when hunting outside the Buckeye state.

"Any person purchasing a resident license will be held personally and professionally responsible for their actions," Graham wrote in the memo.

Graham issued a second memo seven months later that out-of-state wildlife employees hunting and fishing in Ohio "must follow the same guidelines, rules and regulations as any other out-of-state patrons."

http://outdoornews.com/articles/2010/04 ... 691930.txt


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## tradorion

OK- i see where the issue of licenses at a different rate for out of state wildlife was done in 96.

I see where Eric went to OH to hunt and purchased a resident license *AT THE ADVICE OF AN OHIO STATE GAME WARDEN *.

I see where there was an investigation by OH Inspector General and it also appears by USFW into a variety of issues and multiple indictments have been made.

*WHAT I DO NOT UNDERSTAND* is that if OH and USFW have chosen not to indict Eric why do you insist on trying to personally crucify him.

As I have said before- I know from cases in SC if a GW misquotes a law to someone and they break the law based on his incorrect information they are pretty much free and clear b/c they were doing what was told to them by the GW to be OK.

Additionally- I see where you cited one of the sources for information that I was asking about- thank you for that.

Finally- my only question remaining is the source for this last tidbit since it readily appears to be a comment by a SC resident: _*While Wright was in SC here, Vaughn admits to being with Wright while he was trapping, and Vaughn was present when Wright left with illegal pelts. Yet he claims to have seen no infractions. Wright made thousands of dollars while here and got to keep all of it. Didn't even pay a fine.*_


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## drjongy




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## jci63

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Attorney for indicted Wildlife Division official defends client
The attorney handling one of the six indicted Ohio Division of Wildlife officials is baffled by the charges brought against his client.

Attorney Michael Cassity of Mount Orab in Brown County is representing James Lehman, the Wildlife Division's law enforcement administrator, who has been placed on paid administrative leave.

Lehman is charged with one count of obstructing justice and one count of complicity of obstructing justice. Both are fifth-degree felonies.

The indictment against Lehman and five other Wildlife Division officials stems from an alleged incident in which the state wildlife officer assigned to Brown County - Allan Wright - was said to have allowed a South Carolina wildlife officer to use his Ohio address in order to obtain an Ohio hunting license on Nov. 5, 2006.

It is alleged that Lehman and four other high-ranking Wildlife Division officials should have handled the Wright incident differently as a criminal matter and not as an administrative matter that resulted in a verbal reprimand for Wright.

"What I've seen of the limited investigation I've been able to do would indicate there is no merit to these charges. I just don't understand why the charges were brought. They're talking about complicity; trying to break the law. At least my client was following what he believed was policy. Certainly when the (Ohio) Inspector General got involved there was total cooperation with my client. He participated in the Inspector General investigation and told them what he knew. He wasn't out to hide anything," Cassity said.

Cassity said too that the matter should be tossed out of Brown County Common Pleas Court for lack of evidence of guilt.

"I do; maybe even more than a possibility. But right now this case is in its infancy with a lot of information that has to be discovered by the defense. I don't see, however, there is sufficient evidence to support these charges," Cassity said.

Cassity said as well that when an attorney is experienced in criminal work he or she has a "pretty good sense of what the evidence might be about" and that sense points to a lot of nothing in this matter.

Similarly, Cassity says he is "extremely impressed" with Lehman.

"I've got pretty good instincts and my impression is that he is straight and plays by the rules. You know, it's tough on him with more than 20 years with the Wildlife Division. He's an honorable man. He was just doing his job the way he believed his job should be done," Cassity said.

Cassity noted that he will appear before the Brown County Common Pleas Court next week along with Brown County Prosecutor Jessica A. Little for a pre-trial hearing.
At this hearing - not normally attended by the defendant - a second pre-trial date may be set as well as possibly the actual trial date.

"I don't expect a whole lot except whether there's been an exchange of discovery, basically must be provided by the prosecutor, possibly Friday or Monday," Cassity said.

Efforts are being made to contact the other attorneys representing the remaining defendants.

- Jeffrey L. Frischkorn
[email protected]

http://outdoorswithfrischkorn.blogspot. ... chive.html


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## duckp

I haven't got time to do more than skim this mess but this quote bothers me:

"I see where Eric went to OH to hunt and purchased a resident license AT THE ADVICE OF AN OHIO STATE GAME WARDEN ."

I hope I'm misunderstanding it and wardens from one State actually don't want the public to believe they think they can buy resident licenses as non-residents just because someone said they could.People that must KNOW residency requirements,Game Laws,etc as part of their jobs simply can't get a free ride or escape consequences making that ridiculous claim.


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## tradorion

Read the article near the end provided by JCI63 that discusses where OH had indeed provided officers from other states resident licenses in the past. So yes- it is a believable concept.

SCDNR has the ability to authorize gratis licenses at the discretion of the department but only does so under certain cases.

So I stand by my comment that if i were hunting in another state and a GW told me "This is how we do it here" i would probably follow his advice unless i had done other homework and knew differently. HAVING SAID THIS- were i provided bad information by a local GW and I was cited then that GW would be the first witness subpoenaed in my defense.


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## tradorion

Soooooooo- JCI63- seeing as how you keep citing sources for new information are you ever going to let us in on the source in SC that seemed so offended/indignant by the outcome of things???


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## jci63

tradorion said:


> SCDNR has the ability to authorize gratis licenses at the discretion of the department but only does so under certain cases.


You think you get me a few? Now that were buddy's!


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## duckp

Well like I said,I only skimmed parts of this but are you saying he was GIVEN a gratis license,the law supports this,and he didn't buy a res one as a non-res who paid the res fee?Is gratis really 'gratis' in this case?


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## duckp

Well took another 20 minutes and googled the Ohio Statutes.Can't find a thing that appears to allow 'gratis' licenses but 1531.12 and 1533.10 appear to prohibit it unless an 'agreement' between the 2 States was adopted pursuant to 1533.91.Even then its not gratis and certainly would NOT be handled by this Eric using some residents local address when applying.
Looked the the Depts promulgated 'Rules' as well and found nothing there although again,I can't believe if it was okayed by 'rule',it would entail the applicant giving a phony address.


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## jci63

Brown County Prosecuting Attorney, Jessica Little has "requested to the court to appoint a special prosecuting attorney for Allan Wright's case", who has been charged with two counts of tampering with records and one count of falsification.

The Brown County prosecuting Attorney herself will be prosecuting Division of Wildlife Chief David Graham, Law Enforcement Administrator James Lehman, Human Resources Administrator Michele Ward, District 5 Manager Todd Haines and Assistant Chief of ODNR Division of Wildlife Randy Miller were each indicted on one count of obstructing justice and one count of complicity to obstruct justice each. Due to "facts and legal issues" with the above five individuals "that need to separate from Allan Wright's Case."

"Eric Vaughn is a material witness" in her case and she "cannot comment on his testimony."


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## tradorion

Read what I said- i said SOUTH CAROLINA has the option to issue gratis licenses.... And if you read the articles that JCI63 posted you will see where in 96 OHIO issued resident licenses to non state residents of other agencies (LE or Biologist??)- i would be willing to be it was done more than just that once... but i do not have the access to their records to show it and am not involved in the case enough to worry about it.

My point in chiming in on this thread is that ERIC VAUGHN the SC Game Warden that JCI63 has some reason to want to grind an axe against was investigated along with the others by both OH and USFW and when it all shakes out he was not charged... it seems to me that is enough reason for JCI63 to focus on the issue rather than trying to rake someone not charged in the case over the coals.


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## jci63

> tradorion wrote:SCDNR has the ability to authorize gratis licenses at the discretion of the department but only does so under certain cases.


You think you could get me a few? Now that were buddy's!


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## duckp

OK,fair enough.However,If you're saying he's 'innocent' of everything help me a bit with how the conversation went.I assume something like this?
"Hey just buy a res license instead of a non-res,you'll save some $$".
"Well you see,I'm not a res though".
"Thats OK,you qualify,just claim you live at my address".
'OK'.
Can't imagine how else it could have gone unless along those lines.(unless of course,he knew dang well he was violating the law-and I do see he's now the 'star' witness for the prosecution so maybe he cut a deal.)
Nevertheless,didn't your friend suspect wrong doing when he used a false address?


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## tradorion

I do not know what he did or did not suspect- I MYSELF SUSPECT that if i went to another state to hunt and a game warden told me that something was done a certain way and i took it in good faith that he was being sincere then he would be subpoena'd as the #1 witness in my defense.

I can think of a number of ways the conversation could have gone and I actually do know Eric's side of how it went- however since the court case is pending I will refrain from a discussion of it until such time as it is up for discussion.

Read the articles- in 96 it was done- OH provided non-residents licenses at resident rates.... so along those lines i could see where there was room to believe a local GW saying "this is what we typically do"-

As noted before- many people do not realize it b/c it has nt become an issue in their state yet to raise a question but many states can alter license/season issues at will.... look at the western states with "Governor's Tags" and the deal is "Pay us enough money for THIS XYZ Tag and we will grant you the freedom to hunt this species when where and how you wish with whatever weapon you choose"...

Point being- in court you have to prove to the jury byond a reasonable doubt- AND ONCE AGAIN I NOTE Eric was NOT CHARGED... perhaps the reason lies in the local GW giving bad information that would make the jury say "A reasonable man probably would have believed a GW"- when the case is done if ya'll want to discuss it more in depth let's do so.


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## duckp

Well I'll drop it.I like and hunt with Wardens/COs but don't know ANY that would think they can buy a res license as a non-res when doing so requires them to fill out a form requiring them to lie about their address."He told me so" can justify anything.Common sense,common knowledge should tell any Officer who deals with res/non-res issues that when someone tells you 'use a phony address',its not right.


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## tradorion

DUCKP- there is one aspect of this event that you are missing in regards to how the transaction might have occurred that might would alter your perception of the event.

And I will tell you sincerely- as a law abiding citizen AND an officer- I have often taken another GW's word in another state as to what was proper or how things were handled there b/c the variance in laws from state to state is BAFFLING to me as a GW. Things they do out west would never fly in SC and things we do here are laughed at there.... so had i been the one who walked into a state and an officer told me "We have a standing tradition of offering out of state GW's a resident license" (knowing my state COULD do this but chooses not to) then yessir- i could see where i could have been the one tied up in this court case.

Have you not read the article that shows where OH had done it before?? So what makes Eric lacking in common sense when it had been done before and he was told "this is how it is done here"- i bet if we sat and compared your states laws to mine (assuming you are not from SC) we could find muliple cases where an officer in either state could tell you "this is how it is done here" and create confusion or give the appearance of poor guidance based on what you are used to in your home state.


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## duckp

I'm missing no aspect here.If you are telling me officers knowingly sign lies(licenses require statements that the info you put on them is true)because some other officer says its 'OK' there's nothing I can say that will change your mind-including the fact you have no business remaining an officer.
Your rationale for lieing on official documents makes no sense.What if the other officer said ignore other laws cause 'thats the way we do it here?'Where do you draw the line?Ignore some laws,comply with others?Sad.Actually pathetic as well.


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## jci63

Additionally, on April 22, 2008, USFWS Senior Special Agent Keith Toomey conducted an
interview of Wildlife Officer Allan Wright. During this interview, Wright admitted assisting
Vaughn in obtaining a fraudulent Ohio resident hunting license by listing Wright's home address
as Vaughn's address. The USFWS forwarded a copy of its investigation to the Ohio Division of
Wildlife. As we stated earlier, providing fraudulent information on a hunting license application is a
violation of the Ohio Revised Code and is classified as a misdemeanor of the first degree.

As noted earlier, on August 13, 2008, Ohio Wildlife initiated an administrative investigation of
Allan Wright's involvement with Eric Vaughn obtaining a fraudulent Ohio resident hunting
license on November 5, 2006. Wright admitted he suggested the idea and assisted Vaughn in
obtaining a resident hunting license by listing Wright's address as Vaughn's. Wright claimed,
"It was a common practice and when supervisors were doing it, other states were doing it, and
officers around you are doing it, and supervisors say it's okay, you do it." Graham, Miller,
Ward-Tackett, Lehman and Haines all stated that they never recognized or considered that
Wright's actions were criminal because obtaining resident hunting licenses for out-of-state
wildlife officers was a common practice, and supervisors approved or had knowledge of the
practice.

Therefore, they as a group decided to proceed with an administrative investigation.
Graham, Ward-Tackett, Lehman, Miller, and Haines admitted that if a civilian would obtain a
resident hunting license using false information, Wildlife would pursue criminal charges against
that individual, as they have done in the past. The reality is that Wildlife administrators knew
that providing false information on the hunting license application is a criminal offense. Even
though we found it to be unsubstantiated, they used the excuse that other Wildlife officers had
done the same thing, and supervisors may have had knowledge of the practice as a reason to not
pursue a criminal investigation.

We found that Ohio Wildlife Officer Allan Wright admitted his part in obtaining a resident
hunting license for his friend, South Carolina Wildlife Officer Eric Vaughn. It was Officer
Wright's idea to put his home address on Vaughn's hunting license application to facilitate
Vaughn receiving a resident hunting license. This act resulted in producing a fraudulent hunting
license and deprived Wildlife of additional revenue. Additionally, Officer Wright checked in the
deer killed by Eric Vaughn producing another false document when Wright listed his home address as Vaughn's address on the harvest report. Providing fraudulent information on a hunting license application is a violation of the Ohio Revised Code, which is clearly stated on the hunting license application.

During our interviews of the Wildlife administrators, they each admitted that providing false
information on a hunting license application is a criminal offense. However, they considered
unsubstantiated claims that this is a common practice among officers and supervisors are aware
of the practice, in their decision to investigate the matter administratively, rather than criminally.
Regardless of whether it was found to be a common practice, or not, falsifying official
documents is a criminal violation.

http://watchdog.ohio.gov/investigations/2009340.pdf


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## jci63

New Watchdog Probe Into Ohio Wildlife Licenses
Associated Press

COLUMBUS, Ohio-The state watchdog is investigating allegations that wildlife officers broke the law by providing out-of-state wildlife officers Ohio fishing licenses at a discount, The Associated Press has learned.

The probe by the Ohio Inspector General follows similar allegations involving a hunting license that has led to felony charges against the wildlife division's top administrators.

All are on paid leave while they are prosecuted over the hunting license allegations.

The Ohio Division of Wildlife reprimanded two officers in 2007 for helping fellow wildlife officers from Indiana obtain Ohio fishing licenses at the lower, Ohio rate of $19, according to wildlife records released to the AP through a records request.

The officers let the Indiana officers use the Ohio address of wildlife regional offices in Xenia in southwest Ohio. Normally, the Indiana officers would have paid $40 for the license.

Indiana allows out-of-state wildlife officers who are in the state on official business to obtain hunting and fishing licenses at in-state rates. Ohio does not have a similar policy, and it is illegal to put down false information on the licenses when filling them out.

The Oct. 7, 2008, letter of reprimand indicates the officers had a supervisor's authority to obtain the licenses.

Despite that, "This was against Division of Wildlife directive and should not be repeated again in the future," according to the letters signed by Todd Haines, then the manager of the Xenia office.

Haines is one of six officials who have pleaded not guilty in the 2006 case of an Ohio wildlife officer who let a South Carolina officer use his home address to receive a $19 Ohio hunting license, saving $106. Haines was charged with one count of obstructing justice and one count of complicity.

Josh Zientek, one of the wildlife officers reprimanded over the fishing license issue, declined to comment Tuesday.

"I trust the system and we've just got to let the system work," he said.

At issue with the hunting license is whether Ohio officials knowingly broke the law. Several told investigators that the practice was widespread in the past.

David Graham, chief of the Ohio Wildlife Division, told investigators the practice of providing the in-state license rate was probably outdated but he didn't think of it as a crime.

"I just had come to the conclusion over time that it just wasn't the probably a socially acceptable thing to do anymore," Graham said in a Feb. 1, 2010, interview with investigators reviewed by the AP.

However, the inspector general's investigation of the hunting license issue released last week says officials knew what happened was illegal.

"The reality is that Wildlife administrators knew that providing false information on the hunting license application is a criminal offense," the report said.

Graham also acknowledged to investigators he was close friends with Allan Wright, the wildlife officer who allegedly obtained the cheaper hunting license for the South Carolina official.

Graham has pleaded not guilty to one count of obstructing justice and one count of complicity

http://www2.nbc4i.com/cmh/news/crime/ar ... ses/35402/


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## jci63

*Eric Vaughn*

* "is a material witness" in the case and no "comment on his testimony." However, Ohio will "not be pursuing any charges against Eric Vaughn in connection with the resident hunting license." *

*Defendant: Wright, Allan *

* VIOLATION OF: 2913.42A1 TAMPERING W/RECORDS F3

* VIOLATION OF: 2913.42A2 TAMPERING W/RECORDS F3

* VIOLATION OF: 2921.13A5, FALSIFICATION M1

HEARING SET FOR 04/21/2010 AT 02:00 PM TYPE PRT

JR# 419 PG# 456 -ENTRY, IN THE MATTER OF THE APPOINTMENT OF A SPECIAL PROSECUTING ATTORNEY IN AND FOR BROWN COUNTY
OHIO, THAT DAVID KELLEY BE APPOINTED ATTORNEY FOR ALLAN WRIGHT

*Defendant: Graham, David *

* VIOLATION OF: 2921.32A6 OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE F5

* VIOLATION OF: 2923.03A2 COMPLICITY(OBS.JUST) F5

HEARING SET FOR 04/27/2010 AT 08:30 AM TYPE PRT

*Defendant: Lehman, James *

* VIOLATION OF: 2923.03A2 COMPLICITY (OBS.JUST F5

* VIOLATION OF: 2921.32A6 OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE F5

HEARING SET FOR 04/28/2010 AT 09:00 AM TYPE PRT

Atty 1: Michael E. Cassity

*
Defendant: Tackett,Ward, Michele*

* VIOLATION OF: 2921.32A6 OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE F5

* VIOLATION OF: 2923.03A2 COMPLICITY(OBS.JUST) F5

VACATED HEARING SET FOR 04/21/2010 AT 11:00 AM TYPE APP

*Defendant: Haines, Todd *

* VIOLATION OF: 2921.32A6 OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE F5

* VIOLATION OF: 2923.03A2 COMPLICITY(OBS.JUST) F5

HEARING SET FOR 04/21/2010 AT 11:00 AM TYPE APP

Atty 1: John Woliver

*
Defendant: Miller, Randy *

* VIOLATION OF: 2921.32A6 OBSTRUCTING JUSTICE F5

* VIOLATION OF: 2923.03A2 COMPLICITY(OBS.JUST) F5

HEARING SET FOR 04/21/2010 AT 11:00 AM TYPE PRT


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## tradorion

DUCKP- I do NOT know either the laws OR the policies of Ohio. However- i do see the same information that is being provided by JCI63 and it says that on more than one occasion PRIOR TO ERIC's the state of Ohio had indeed provided licenses to others at the resident rate. One article specifically discusses where the letters were written for it. Thus if i do not know each of the nuances of a state and an officer from another state tells me "This is how we do it- knowing that in my own state the power exists for the department to issue gratis licenses etc" THEN YES- it is easy for me to grasp this concept.

The kicker that I think you are missing here is ALL OF YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF THIS CASE is gained after the fact and after reading allllll of the various articles here showing where and how much wrong was allegedly done- and remeber UNTIL PROVEN GUILTY IT IS ALLEGEDLY DONE- but had you come into the situation cold in 2006 without alllllll these articles and with only the knowledge of your states laws then you might have a weeee bit different view.

It is often easy to make very judgemental calls after the fact. Also- I would bet there are still many factors at play in this situation that none of us know about and can only guess at the influence of...

And while licenses do usually have the statement portion of this information is true- if the state did indeed have a history/tradition of offering this "privilege" even under a misguided or limited basis is it the fault of the person that benefited for following what he was told was the protocol in that state or is it the fault of those who misled him? Again- i cite the example of if i went somewhere and the local guy told me something I am going to tend to follow his advice- BUT IF I GET IN TROUBLE BASED ON THAT ADVICE I WILL SEE HIM IN COURT IN MY DEFENSE.


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## duckp

A broken record response.When is lieing OK?He applied for and signed a license with false information,KNOWING it was false.Enough.Thats the concept you,apparently an 'officer' yourself,should grasp.
By the way,I see he's really getting hammered on bow websites now as well.He's very lucky he's not charged and did the right thing by agreeing to testify for the State.IMO,his only wise decision.He'll be lucky if he can hang onto his job.


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## jci63

It appears that if South Carolina D.N.R. Officer Eric Vaughn fishes, he may have violated South Carolina law!

(B) It is unlawful to obtain, attempt to obtain, or possess a South Carolina resident saltwater license while licensed for any purpose as a resident of another state.

South Carolina Code of Laws

SECTION 50-5-305. Requirements for obtaining resident license; penalty.

(A) To be granted a resident commercial saltwater license authorized under this chapter:

(1) an applicant must present a statement from the South Carolina Department of Revenue indicating the applicant filed a South Carolina income tax form as a resident for the previous calendar year, but a person under the age of seventeen is exempt from the requirement to provide such statement; or

(2) an applicant who did not file a South Carolina personal income tax form for the previous year must show documentation acceptable to the department proving the applicant was a resident of South Carolina for twelve consecutive months immediately prior to the date of application.

The applicant must also present an additional form of identification acceptable to the department.

(B) It is unlawful to obtain, attempt to obtain, or possess a South Carolina resident saltwater license while licensed for any purpose as a resident of another state.

(C) A person who violates this section is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined not less than two hundred dollars nor more than two thousand five hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than thirty days and must have his saltwater privileges suspended for twelve months.

http://www.scstatehouse.gov/CODE/t50c005.htm


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## tradorion

EXPLAIN THE BROKEN RECORD RESPONSE???? that i stand my ground? it is very easy to discuss after the fact what the right answer was- put it into the context of time and place- funny to me that you are so adamant that there is a violation but that the people in a position to prosecute do not see it how you do. As for providing false information- did he do that? Or did he provide his information and an OH official informed him differently?

Since OHIO had previously allowed nonresident wildlife employees be granted resident licenses where does it not make sense that upon arriving to hunt and being told "This is what our state does as a courtesy to NR wildlife employees"- since our state can indeed grant license exceptions why would a GW not assume another state can do so? And when the individual issuing the license knows you are from out of state?

You can dislike my response all you like- but i will sit and smile seeing that OHIO knows that in court the most defensible position against a jury is that he acted in good faith based on information of the local officer- thus you notice they charged their officers for multiple things but not Eric. Live with it gentlemen- you cannot be found guilty if you are not charged and the reason he was not charged (in my opinion) is because the elements of the violation can not be shown well enough to hope for a conviction.

Now jci63- show me where he did or did not have a saltwater license in this time frame- saying someone may have done something is a crock- you may be a male prostitute for all i know after all you have the equipment- but i do not know this and choose not to shoot off at the mouth unless #1 there are charges and for me personally- i like there to be a conviction. Then it is a bit more difficult to argue what coulda shoulda or woulda.

As for keeping his job- he still has it- deservingly so- and i will bet you he keeps it. How would an agency justify firing you for an incident that you had not been charged in??


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## tradorion

Tell me DuckP- if you cam to SC as a knowledgeable hunter well versed in the rules of your home state ut not familiar with SC laws or policies and got to my state and a GW told you something that led to a violation of the law-- do you think you should be charged in court and fined for an offense that youdid not believe to be an offense at the time you committed it?


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## duckp

The answer to your question would depend.Yes,if I was a GW or CO and signed a license wherein I lied about my residency.No,if I went to a DNR office and asked AND didn't have to lie on my application.
As to whether he lied,maybe I don't have the facts so just answer me this?Did he sign a license claiming he resided at an address in Ohio?The answer to that question answers it all for me.
As to why he wasn't charged,I don't know.He sure could have been-and IMO should have been.Anyone not a warden sure would have been.I suspect its an assortment of reasons though including time lapse since the crime was discovered much later,extradition issues and his agreement to testify for the State.(something he wouldn't have to do.)


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## jci63

During his interview, Wright admitted that he assisted Vaughn in obtaining a fraudulent resident hunting license by advising Vaughn to use his (Wright's) home address as his own.

We found that Ohio Wildlife Officer Allan Wright admitted his part in obtaining a resident
hunting license for his friend, South Carolina Wildlife Officer Eric Vaughn. It was Officer
Wright's idea to put his home address on Vaughn's hunting license application to facilitate
Vaughn receiving a resident hunting license. This act resulted in producing a fraudulent hunting
license and deprived Wildlife of additional revenue.

http://watchdog.ohio.gov/investigations/2009340.pdf


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## ssquirrel

Apparently some of you haven't asked , who is John D. Coffin of Michigan. Well let me update you: He is the owner of Ultimate Firearms based in Michigan. Allan Wright and Chief Dave Graham hunts on Mr. Coffin's property in Michigan. Allan Wright, who is employed part-time with Bass Pro as a Pro Hunter, endorsed on line a muzzle loaders, which is manufactured by Ultimate Firearms. He endorsed it using his name and the fact he is employed as an Ohio game warden. He received a free muzzle loading rifle for his endorsement!! Therein lies an ethical problem! Check it out for yourself on the internet! But herein lies another the clincher---during 2001, Allan Wright helped John D. Coffin of Michigan, who isn't a sworn full time wildlife officer in any state, purchase a Ohio Resident Hunting License! The whole truth will finally come out when these corrupt, untruthful individuals get there just dues!


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## ssquirrel

The Ultimate Muzzleloader is the finest of the modern day muzzleloaders. Not only is the muzzleloader made with precision workmanship but the accuracy and beauty of the firearm is unmatched in the industry. Being a wildlife officer with two young boys, time is a valued commodity at my household, and the ease of cleaning The Ultimate Muzzleloader is one of the most important features of shooting the firearm. The team at Ultimate Firearms is the most personable and knowledgeable in the firearm industry. . . always willing to help get the most out of the firearm being used. Kudos to the you, Randy, and K.J. for putting the best of the best of muzzleloaders and rifles on the market. Keep up the good work. "

- Allan Wright, Redhead Pro Staff, State Wildlife Officer, Ohio


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## farmerj

tradorion said:


> Tell me DuckP- if you cam to SC as a knowledgeable hunter well versed in the rules of your home state ut not familiar with SC laws or policies and got to my state and a GW told you something that led to a violation of the law-- do you think you should be charged in court and fined for an offense that youdid not believe to be an offense at the time you committed it?


Ignorance of the law has been proven time and again in case law to be no defense.

He broke the law. Do the crime, do the time. IF you have a heart ache over that, then take it up with the legislators in your home state or where ever it may be and change the law.

Pretty common sense to most that if you LIVE in ONE state, you can't claim residency in another state for what this officer did. Being a GW himself, gives even less credence to his or the administrators trying to play ignorant to the law.

Sounds like they are ALL getting what they deserve. Personally, seems like the "thin blue wall" fell apart in this instance and you personally are ****** that happened.

As a citizen, I am glad to see it happened. Now if it would just happen more often.


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## jci63

*Eric Vaughn

"is a material witness" in the case and no "comment on his testimony." However, Ohio will "not be pursuing any charges against Eric Vaughn in connection with the resident hunting license." *

*John D. Coffin of Michigan. *

*Jessica "Little noted that her office does not currently intend to pursue charges related to the 2001 issuance of a resident license to Michigan resident John D. Coffin*, in part because statute of limitations restrictions may apply."

The defendants did not have to appear at the pretrial last week. The Court has set another pretrial in a couple weeks in which the Defendants must appear. Those pretrials will most likely be in chambers as well (not in open court). No trial dates have been set yet.

*Case Number: CR 20102048
Defendant: Wright, Allan*

2ND PRETRIAL HEARING SET FOR 05/11/10 @ 12:00

*Case Number: CR 20102049
Defendant: Graham, David*

SECOND PRE-TRIAL SET FOR 05/17/10 @ 12:00

*Case Number: CR 20102050
Defendant: Lehman, James*

* HEARING SET FOR 05/17/2010 AT 12:00 PM

*Case Number: CR 20102051
Defendant: Tackett,Ward, Michele*

HEARING SET FOR 05/17/2010 AT 12:00 PM

*Case Number: CR 20102052
Defendant: Haines, Todd*

SECOND PRETRIAL CONFERENCE AT THE REQUEST OF THE DEFENDANT SET FOR 5/17/10 @ NOON


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## ssquirrel

1 Comments:
Frank said...
Apparently Mr. Cassity doesn't really know his client! Dishonorable, intimidating, and arrogant are the correct words that best describe his client! Mr. Lehman wouldn't know what is the truth, because he has been involved with spreading so many false accusations while holding his office as Law Administrator of the Division of Wildlife! Of course, he follows orders from the Chief of that Division! No one dares to even whisper a known illegal activity, which his fair-haired boy assigned to Brown County might be involved in. It is common knowledge that the Chief and Wright have a very close relationship. Their relationship is quite like "father and son!" In fact, Mr. Lehman cost the sportsmen of Ohio loads of money while utilizing the Department Aircraft flying to and fro to various states, trying to establish who "ratted" Allan Wright out! He also made trips to the five (5) Division of Wildlife Districts in attempt to find the dirty rat that was the confidential informant. State vehicle usage and fuel doesn't come free! Mr. Lehman could have easily spent the State's time doing the right investigation-blatant, intentional disregard for the natural resource laws that officer Wright raised his right hand and swore that he would uphold. Mr. Lehman being a member of the management team should know the policy better than anyone! He failed to follow that policy in this instance, but has in the past has followed it to a "T" on other officers, who aren't friends of the Chief! The Brown County Prosecutor, Mrs. Little has it right! The investigator with the Office of the Inspector General has it right and the original attorney for Mr. Lehman has it right! It is time that those involved in these crimes be held accountable!  THE ICEMAN (Brown County Implant)
APRIL 14, 2010 9:28 PM


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## jci63

Leadership of the Division of Wildlife indicted

Tom Cross
Sportsmen's Exit

If Brown County Prosecutor Jessica A. Little gets her way then the stars of Wild Ohio may soon be playing a roll on Court TV as the grand jury handed out six indictments to the top leadership of the Ohio Division of Wildlife (DOW) for an alleged cover up of criminal activity of a DOW wildlife officer.

According to the Office of the Inspector General and a staff report on the News Democrat website; David Graham, Chief of the Ohio Division of Wildlife; Randy Miller, Assistant Chief of the Division of Wildlife; James Lehman, Law Enforcement Administrator for the Division of Wildlife; Michele Ward-Tackett, Human Resource Administrator for the Division of Wildlife; Todd Haines, Division of Wildlife District 5 Manager; and Brown County Wildlife Officer Allan Wright, were served with indictments last Thursday.

The indictments are a result of a 17 page report, issued March 10, on a four month investigation conducted by the State of Ohio Office of the Inspector General that found Division of Wildlife administrators "Committed wrongful acts or omissions by failing to properly investigate Officer Wright."

The investigation revealed that Brown County Officer Allan Wright wrongfully assisted a South Carolina non-resident in obtaining a fraudulent resident hunting license in 2006 using Wright's home address. The investigation also showed in 2001 that Wrights address "was also listed on a (hunting) license of a Michigan resident whom Wright knew." Additionally Wright admitted to checking in three deer killed by the South Carolina resident.

According to the investigation "Wright knowingly recorded a false address on the harvest report when he listed his (Wright's) address". The report also said that Wright was under investigation in 2007 by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources regarding trapping violations in South Carolina.

The report showed that the Ohio Division of Wildlife District 4 Law Office issued a memo dated April 25, 2007 to all District 4 officers that stated "In recent months the Office of Law Enforcement for the U. S. Fish & Wildlife (USFW) Service has been receiving requests for assistance from Officers around the State. All requests for assistance shall now go through the Law Enforcement Supervisor for approval." According to the report, on April 29, 2009, DOW Chief David Graham extended that same directive to all Ohio Wildlife Officers.

The Inspector General's investigation also reported that Chief Graham, Assistant Chief Miller, Human Resource Manager Ward-Tackett, and Law Enforcement Administrator Lehman, and D-5 Manger Haines failed to report Wright's alleged violations to the ODNR Director or ODNR Law Enforcement Administrator Mike Taylor as required by ODNR policy and the Governor's policy even though all admitted they were aware that providing false information was a violation of law. The Inspector General found "reasonable cause to believe an act of omission occurred."

In conclusion the Inspector General Report found that Officer Wright's act resulted in producing a fraudulent hunting license and produced another false document when Wright checked the deer killed when listing his home address which is clearly a violation of the Ohio Revised Code.

The report also found DOW administrators mishandled the investigation ignoring the criminal violation and also failed to report the suspected criminal activity to the Director of the ODNR as required.

During the course of the investigation the Inspector General found instances of potential criminal behavior related to the falsification of an Ohio hunting license and other related documents.

The conclusion of the report on the Office of Inspector General's investigation found Allan Wright helped a friend in South Carolina obtain a resident hunting license, and furthermore found Wildlife Administrators failed to investigate the deception as a criminal matter.

As a result of the investigation, according to the News Democrat website who credits the information obtained from the Brown County Court of Common Pleas, the following indictments were filed on April 2 by the grand jury.

Allan Wright, Wildlife Officer, charged with two counts of tampering with records and one count of falsification for allegedly altering ODNR records in Brown County.

David Graham, Chief DOW, for one count of obstructing justice and one count of complicity to obstruct justice.

Randy Miller, Assistant Chief DOW, for one count of obstructing justice and one count of complicity to obstruct justice.

Michele Ward-Tackett, Human Resource Administrator DOW, for one count of obstructing justice and one count of complicity to obstruct justice.

Lames Lehman, Law Enforcement Administrator DOW, for one count of obstructing justice and one count of complicity to obstruct justice.

Todd Haines, District 5 Manager DOW, for one count of obstructing justice and one count of complicity to obstruct justice.

According to the News Democrat website it is alleged that the DOW administrators named in the indictments hindered the discovery, apprehension, prosecution or conviction of Allan Wright or to assist Wright to benefit from the commission of crime by obstructing any person by means of force, intimidation or deception. The complicity charge states that each of the indicated officers had aided or abetted each other in committing their obstructing justice charge.

Allan Wright has been the Brown County Wildlife Officer for 16 years and was named National Wild Turkey Federation's Wildlife Law Enforcement Officer of the Year in 2001 and was also named Brown County Officer of the Year in 2000 and received the Brown County Meritorious Service Award for exceptional service to law enforcement and the community. Wright was also on Bass Pro Shops Redhead Pro Staff and on Pro Staff for Ultimate Firearms.

For a report on the investigation, please visit: http://www.watchdog.ohio.gov/investigations/2009340.pdf.

http://www.peoplesdefender.com/main.asp ... eID=131246


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## stewart223

I can tell you that John D. Coffin is not the owner of Ultimate Firearms in Michigan, as previously mentioned. Whoever John D. Coffin is, he is in no way, shape, matter, or form, connected to Ultimate Firearms. Check your facts prior to making accusations that implicate people. Slander is grounds for a lawsuit, with all due respect.


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## KIPPER

OK Tradorian you seem to ask a lot of questions. Seems like a lot of information has been provided of alleged wrong doing. Now I have a couple of questions for you after reviewing this thread.

Tradorian are you as a SC Wildlife Officer responsible to protect wildlife violations or suspected wildlife violations??????

If so and you find that a fellow officer may or may not have violated a wildlife offense would you be required to report it???? If not required would it be morally correct or ethical to report it???

Do you believe wildlife officers should be above the Law????

After reading this thread it seems to me you have evidence of a possible wildlife violation of a SC Officer maintaining a SC Saltwater Resident License while having a resident license in another state. So are you going to report this up your chain of command or are you going to just fight with a guy on a website and defend wildlife officers who at the laeast were in a stinky situation that would have gotten anyone other than a these guys charged with a crime???? oke:

I am interested to see if you are no better than the wildlife officers charged with these crimes. If not prove me wrong. Take this up the chain of command. I await your response. :bop:


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## KIPPER

Hmmm ...............Just what I thought. :shake:


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## headshot

Yup Kipper, you put it to him real good and he can't wiggle out of it. Tradorian you are not above the law and ignorance is not a defence as stated in an earlier post. Do your job and report the violation, you could wind up in a pile of trouble like your Ohio buddies.


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## KIPPER

Yes it is quite a shame isnt it.


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