Post by charlieinthebush on Mar 13, 2015 7:45:46 GMT -5
Man pleads guilty in deer-selling case
By Kathy Lynn Gray
The Columbus Dispatch • Saturday February 28, 2015 5:35 AM
A former Ohio resident pleaded guilty unexpectedly yesterday in federal court to charges that he transported deer to other states without the proper “disease-free” medical certification.
The trial for Donald W. Wainwright Sr. had been set for next week, and attorneys on both sides had been gearing up for months to bring in experts to testify about the multibillion-dollar U.S. deer-hunting industry.
Wainwright, 49, owns and operates a breeding and hunting center in Live Oak, Fla., and had been part owner and operator of one in West Liberty in Logan County. Hunters from around the United States went to the two places, which totaled more than 1,000 acres, to hunt the fenced-in herds.
Federal law prohibits the movement of captive white-tailed deer from one state to another unless the deer are certified to be free of tuberculosis.
In addition, the threat of chronic wasting disease led Georgia to ban the importation of white-tailed deer in 2006 and Florida to ban it in 2014. Before 2014, only deer from a herd certified free of chronic wasting disease for five years could be taken into Florida.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Ohio Division of Wildlife began investigating Wainwright in 2010 after wildlife officials noticed deer noses and antlers through the vents of a cargo trailer headed south on I-71. Officials stopped the trailer and found a shipment of 10 deer headed to a hunting preserve in Georgia.
Officials determined that the deer hadn’t been tested for disease, and the shipment included false paperwork that said the animals were being shipped to Florida.
Further investigation led to the 2014 indictment of Wainwright on one count of conspiracy, one count of wire fraud and 12 counts of other violations of the Lacey Act, which involves interstate wildlife trafficking.
Yesterday, he pleaded guilty to all of the charges, which covered the period from 2010 through 2012.
In a plea deal in U.S. District Court, he agreed to a sentence of 21 months in prison, a $125,000 fine, 200 hours of community service and an undetermined amount of restitution.
Wainwright also agreed to publish a statement in Deer Breeders Gazette detailing his criminal conduct and warning others of the dangers of illegally trafficking in deer.
His son, Donald W. Wainwright Jr., 29, had helped his father at the West Liberty center, called Valley View Whitetails. He was indicted in 2014 on one count of conspiracy, one count of making false statements and seven counts of violating the Lacey Act. His case has been sealed.
Assistant U.S. Attorney J. Michael Marous, who prosecuted the case, said he could not comment on the status of Wainwright Jr.’s case. A third man has been charged in connection with the conspiracy, but his case also is sealed, Marous said.
The Wainwrights were part-time residents of both West Liberty, about 50 miles northwest of Columbus, and Live Oak, in northern Florida between Tallahassee and Jacksonville. They now live exclusively in Florida.
According to the indictment, Wainwright Sr. put federal identification tags from dead deer that had been certified disease-free onto live deer that had not been certified.
He did that to a “trophy-sized” white-tail deer, Little Moose, which he bought with an unnamed co-conspirator for $20,000 in 2009. They made $72,000 selling Little Moose’s breeding services and semen nationwide.
Erryl Wolgemuth, senior special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, testified yesterday that Wainwright Sr. held hunts in West Liberty without the business being licensed for out-of-state hunters. Participants paid $1,000 to $50,000 for each hunt.
Wolgemuth said Wainwright Sr.’s transport of untested deer led wildlife officials to inspect more than 170 deer-breeding centers in Ohio to test for disease.
David Thomas, the attorney for Wainwright Sr., said yesterday that investigators found no evidence of disease in any of the deer his client owned or transported.
Although Wainwright Sr. had “viable defenses” for his actions, he decided to plead guilty instead of going to trial, to put the situation behind him and “get on with his life,” Thomas said.
As recently as this month, Thomas had asked Judge Edmund A. Sargus Jr. to dismiss the charges against Wainwright Sr., arguing in part that the Lacey Act covers only wild deer and the deer he owned were domesticated.
kgray@dispatch.com
@reporterkathy
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