Troy Gentry had his day in court today.
I hope he was embarrassed enough to never consider anything like this again.
I think it said he will loose his hunting priviledges for five years here in Minnesota.
he also loose his bow and must give up the bear.
plus, a fifteen thousand dollar fine.
the real culprit it seems in this case and the one who is really getting what he deserves, is the guide... ah heck, you all read about it before I screw it up.
http://www.startribune.com/462/story/838543.htmlDULUTH - Country singer Troy Lee Gentry pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court to a misdemeanor charge of falsely registering a trophy bear as wild when, in fact, it was a captive bear named Cubby, which he shot in 2004 on a game farm near Sandstone, Minn.
Gentry, 39, half of the popular singing duo Montgomery Gentry, issued a public apology and called the experience "humbling."
Gentry said he didn't realize the "seriousness of what I was doing" when he relied on "experts around me" in agreeing to improperly tag the bear.
"I regret that today," he said, "not so much because I was fined and punished, but because it appears that I don't have respect for the law. This has been a humbling experience for me and one which I deeply regret."
As part of the agreement, which avoided a trial scheduled to start Monday, Gentry agreed to pay a $15,000 fine. He also agreed to forfeit the bear and the bow used to shoot the animal, and to give up hunting, fishing and trapping in Minnesota for five years.
That last provision could be the most punishing of all for Gentry, an avid outdoorsman.
Minnesota Department of Natural Resource officials said Monday that as part of an interstate compact, loss of hunting privileges in Minnesota normally triggers the same penalty in 23 other states, including Gentry's home state of Tennessee.
Gentry's attorney, Ron Meshbesher of Minneapolis, said he will argue that loss of privileges should be limited to Minnesota when Gentry is sentenced by U.S. District Judge Paul Magnuson. A sentencing date has not been set.
Plans for a staged hunt
At Monday's hearing, Gentry's local hunting guide, Lee Marvin Greenly, owner of the Minnesota Wildlife Connection near Sandstone, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of aiding another hunter to kill bears at baiting stations that he maintained illegally inside the Sandstone National Wildlife Refuge. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss a third charge related to conspiring to mislabel and falsely register the bear he sold to Gentry for $4,600.
In exchange for Gentry's plea, federal prosecutors agreed to drop a felony charge of violating the Lacey Act, which authorities say prohibits the possession or transportation of illegally obtained or illegally registered wildlife.
Gentry testified that he bought Cubby from Greenly with the understanding that they would stage and videotape a hunt inside the bear's 3-acre enclosure.
"Lee and I made a deal about harvesting this bear," Gentry testified. He said they also agreed to falsely claim when registering the animal that it was killed in the wild six miles east of Sandstone instead of on Greenly's property.
Greenly's operation was and remains a licensed game farm that advertises opportunities for wildlife photography. He is also a licensed hunting guide, but he was not licensed to operate a shooting preserve, and regardless, Minnesota doesn't license shooting preserves for bear hunting, officials said.
Gentry answered with a polite, "Yes, your honor" and "No, your honor" in response to questions from Magnuson, who ordered a presentence investigation for both defendants. Afterward, Meshbesher said his client pleaded guilty to "a simple charge having to do with improper tagging [of a game animal], and that's all it ever was."
Magnuson made a similar point from the bench, saying that interested parties had sent him "a number of communications that haven't reflected the charge at all. ... Mr. Gentry didn't tag this bear properly. That's the charge."
Greenly, 46, faces a possible prison sentence of up to five years for each count, a fine of $500,000 and forfeiture of two all-terrain vehicles that he and employees used to reach the bait stations in the wildlife refuge.
His attorney, Robert Malone of St. Paul, said not being convicted of participating in the false registration of Gentry's bear was important to Greenly because that could have caused his game farm license to be revoked. Malone said he expects prosecutors to ask that Greenly be required to give up his license to guide hunters, "but that is a relatively small part of his business."
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Topic: Troy Gentry pleads guilty today (Read 4394 times)
