OR: Californian admits to illegal hunting in Oregon
Plea deal includes lifelong hunting ban in 26 states
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
MICHAEL MILSTEIN, The Oregonian Staff
A Californian pleaded guilty Monday to federal charges resulting from
a wildlife shooting series in 2006 in which he killed a trophy bull elk
in eastern Oregon without a permit.
He also admitted that he illegally baited and hunted three bears
before the season, killed a cow elk and then falsified a tag for it, and
spotlighted and killed a white-tailed deer with a crossbow.
Ronald Ray Jurin, 37, of Redding, Calif., appeared before U.S.
District Judge Ancer L. Haggerty in Portland. He accepted a plea
agreement with three years' probation, an unusually high $50,000
penalty, an additional $4,700 compensation to Oregon, and a lifelong ban
from hunting and fishing in Oregon, California, Washington and 23 other
states.
He must appear again in court Dec. 18 for the judge to decide whether
to accept the plea agreement.
The Wenaha unit near La Grande, known for its large bull elk, is one
of the most prized hunting areas in the state. Legal hunters must
accumulate points to draw a permit for the unit or buy one of a few
statewide permits auctioned at prices up to $25,000.
"Our view of this is law-abiding hunters wait 13 years to get a tag
in this unit, and he knew it and went out there anyway," said Dwight
Holton, assistant U.S. attorney in Portland.
Jurin pleaded guilty to a felony violation of the Lacey Act, which
prohibits the interstate transport of illegally killed wildlife. Federal
agents seized the 14-point rack, nearly four feet across, and the
remains of the elk from his home in California as well as the Compound
Boy he used to kill it.
