Just get a load of the charges these hunters faced! Darren Leggett of Clinton, Illinois, was sentenced to four months home confinement and two years probation. He was also fined $10,000 and forced to pay restitution to the US Fish & Wildlife Service in the amount of $20,000. He also forfeited a Dakota rifle and a mounted stone sheep. On top of that, he faced charges in British Columbia where he was fined another $5,850 and received a five-year Canada-wide ban on hunting and possession of Canadian wildlife.
Bret Roderick of Plainfield, Illinois; Fred Souders of Fort Myers, Florida; and Larry Pagel of Venice, Florida, were also fined. Roderick got a $30,000 fine and a six-year Canada-wide hunting ban. He also forfeited a Dakota arms rifle valued at $5,000 and a mounted goat for violations of the Lacey Act. Pagel and Souders each got an $18,000 fine.
As for Saulnier, the unlicensed Canadian outfitter/guide who perpetrated the scam, he was given the harshest sentence ever issued in British Columbia for illegal hunting activities. After pleading guilty to 22 counts of violating wildlife statutes in Canada, he was sentenced to six months in prison, fined $20,000 and banned from hunting anywhere in Canada for 10 years. The ban includes a ban on possessing wildlife, firearms and archery equipment. The 10-year ban is the longest ever applied in British Columbia. A second Canadian, Kirk Porayko, was........(continued)
