Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 22, 1992 TAG: 9203220081
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: D4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: EASTVILLE LENGTH: Medium
An undercover operation by authorities began in 1988 with a tip that a taxidermist was mounting hawks and great horned owls. The tip spread to a network of people selling cocaine, alcohol and deer meat; hunting out of season, baiting ducks; and possessing protected animal species, authorities said.
"We seem to have found here that those people who are conducting organized activity in illegal wildlife seem to be into drugs and other illegal activities also. It's certainly not uncommon," said Col. Joseph Lynch, chief of law enforcement for the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.
As agents pursued tips on wildlife violations, they "more or less stumbled into the drug transactions," said Maj. Joe Cooke of the game department. "When people tried to sell it to them, they purchased."
Others participating in the arrests Friday were agents from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Virginia State Police, Northampton and Accomack county sheriff's departments, the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control and the Exmore Police Department.
Agents seized weapons and animals that had been mounted, including barred and great horned owls and hawks, Lynch said.
The arrests were scattered through Northampton County, including the small communities of Willis Wharf, Cheriton, Jamesville and Townsend. One arrest was made in Virginia Beach.
Most suspects were taken to the Northampton County Sheriff's Department, where Sheriff Wayne Bradford faced a problem with overcrowding. The American Civil Liberties Union had threatened to sue over poor conditions at the county jail, and a cap of 30 inmates was set.
Fifteen county prisoners had to be transferred to Accomack County to make room for the new arrests, Bradford said.
Fifteen people were charged with distribution of cocaine, eight were charged with state and federal wildlife violations and two with selling alcoholic beverages without a license.
The latter two also were charged with having firearms present during the sale, and one other person was charged with possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
"We found everything from selling deer and selling migratory waterfowl to operating without a federal taxidermist's permit," Lynch said.
Arrests also were made for spotlighting deer, shooting with toxic lead instead of steel shot, hunting after hours and during a closed season, and shooting from motor vehicles.
by CNB