WV: Fatal Investigation Leads to Unrelated Citations

05/01/2009
Fatal Investigation Leads to Unrelated Citations

Two out-of-state hunters are cited for game law violations in the course of the investigation of a fatal hunting accident in Lewis County.

Conservation officers looking into the death of Lewis County hunter Shawn Stewart learned through an informant of four out-of-state hunters who had been hunting on the opening day of Spring Gobbler season in the vicinity of the fatal accident.

The informant knew one of the four only by the name of "Craig." DNR officers contacted Stonewall Resort officials to ask if any out-of-state guests were listed under the name "Craig." Resort officials reported late that night a check of their guest registry revealed a guest named "Craig" from Maryland was staying in one of the cabins with three companions. The men were due to check out early the next morning.

Conservation officers went to the cabin around midnight and began questioning the four and collecting evidence. During the course of the probe they found the group had killed three turkeys on opening day. However, one of the hunters had no West Virginia hunting license and one of the turkeys had not been checked in.

Craig Spence of Church Hill, Maryland was charged with hunting without a license and illegal possession of a wild turkey and was fined $100.00 on the two charges, court costs amounted to $319.06, and he also paid replacement cost for the turkey of $100.00.

Mark Greenwood of Hartley, Delaware was charged with failure to game check a turkey and was fined $50.00 plus 159.53 in court costs.

Conservation officers do not believe the four were in involved in Stewart's death.

Anyone with information that will help successfully complete this investigation is urged to contact the Weston detachment of the W. Va. State Police at 304-269-0500, the Lewis County Division of Natural Resources Office at 304-269-0479, Division of Natural Resources law enforcement offices at French Creek at 304-924-6211, the Elkins District Office at 304-637-0245, or the Lewis County Dispatch Center at 304-269-8241.

Return to Hunting Accident Index

Fair Use Notice: This document may contain copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owners. We believe that this not-for-profit, educational use on the Web constitutes a fair use of the copyrighted material (as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law). If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.

C.A.S.H.
P.O. Box 13815, Las Cruces, NM 88013
Phone: 575-640-7372
E-mail:

C.A.S.H. is a committee of Wildlife Watch, Inc.
a 501(c)3 Not-for-Profit Corporation.
Contributions are tax-deductible.