Hunter Pleads Guilty

FAIRBANKS, ALASKA- A joint investigation by Special Agents from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Alaska Fish and Wildlife Protection Troopers and Wardens from the Maine Wardens Service ended today with a guilty plea by John Downing III. Downing pled guilty in U.S. District Court to three violations of the Lacey Act stemming from the illegal taking and transportation of a black-tail deer, moose, bear and dall sheep in 1993 and 1994 in Alaska. Downing was a Maine resident at the time of the hunts and used an illegally obtained Alaska resident hunting license to take the animals.

Downing was indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in September 1996. The indictment charged Downing with four violations of the Lacey Act, three violations of the National Wildlife Refuge Act and two counts of Felon in Possession of a firearm. The Lacey Act prohibits the possession, transportation, sale or purchase in interstate commerce of wildlife that was taken, possessed, or sold in violation of state and/or federal law.

Downing faced a maximum penalty of five years in jail and/or a $250,000 dollar fine for illegally taking the black-tail deer. The convicted felon in possession of firearm charges carry a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail and a $250,000 dollar fine.

The violations of the National Wildlife Refuge Act carry a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $100,000 dollar fine.

Downing agreed to plead guilty to three misdemeanor violations of the Lacey Act. In exchange, the government agreed to dismiss the felon in possession of a firearm charges and the remaining misdeameanor violations. The plea agreement shows that Downing agreed to pay a $10,000 dollar fine and five years probation. The terms of his probation prohibit Downing from hunting or being in the presence of anyone who is hunting for five years. The agreement also prohibits Downing from importing any wildlife or parts of wildlife into the United States for the length of his probation.

Downing used to host an outdoor program that aired in the northeastern United States and he operated a hunting and fishing lodge in northern Maine. Downing is scheduled for sentencing on March 6, 1998 in U.S. District Court in Fairbanks.

-FWS-