George Allen Waters, a farmer from rural West Branch, Iowa, pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa at Rock Island, Ill., to the illegal interstate transportation and sale of 38 illegally-killed trophy white-tailed deer, elk and mule deer in violation of state and federal wildlife laws. In his plea agreement, Waters, 53, admitted to "poaching" a total of 45 trophy-quality animals, valued at $270,000, from locations in Iowa and Colorado beginning in 1992. He also pleaded guilty to illegally possessing a fully-automatic machine gun. Sentencing will take place on December 2, 2003.
Waters entered his guilty plea in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas J. Shields. According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey B. Lang who prosecuted the case, the government
