15 September 2011

Feds claim global reach on another victimless crime

Verbatim article from the Salisbury Post, NC, via Drudge;

A Salisbury resident has been banned from hunting anywhere in the world for two years as part of an agreement with federal authorities in Kentucky on charges that he illegally hunted in and took wildlife from that state.

Rodney L. Poteat agreed to the ban in U.S. District Court in Kentucky last week, according to a Department of Justice press release. Reached at his Perryman Drive home Wednesday evening, Poteat declined to comment.

He also agreed to pay the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources $5,300 in restitution, and $50 in special penalty assessments. The restitution is to compensate the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources for the fees Poteat would have paid for hunting in Kentucky between 2002 and 2011, the press release said.

Poteat was charged July 27 and sentenced Sept. 7. He received unsupervised probation. The hunting ban was a condition of that sentence, Justice Department statement said.

According to federal authorities, on Nov. 27, 2010, Poteat transported a 14-point white-tailed deer from Hart County, Ky. to his home in Salisbury. Poteat was required to purchase a non-resident hunting license and deer permit prior to hunting in Kentucky. He also was required to report the harvest of any deer taken in Kentucky, and to make a report before transporting the deer outside of Kentucky.

Poteat also pleaded guilty to knowingly transporting a bobcat from Hart County, Ky. to Salisbury in November 2010 without purchasing a non-resident hunting license. Poteat also failed to report the harvest of a bobcat taken within Kentucky, authorities said.

According to the press release, Poteat used to live in Hart County, Ky.

--------------

So this guy nails a bobcat and a 14 point buck and gets the (stupid) book thrown at him. Did he encroach on another person or their property? Nope. Just hunting.

Just wonderin' if this ever happened to folks during the founding generation. Probably not. Can you imagine the face of an 18th or 19th Century North Carolinian or Kentukian when you told them this story?

Gee, what did we do before we had licenses to hunt? I guess we were acquiring food and killing varmints illegally for millenia.

Just askin'.

...Big federal dopes.