Walleye Poaching Red and Leech

Anybody else see this?

I read it on KSTP website.

Im sorry I should add that it was four guys, the fish where caught illegally and sold to local restaurant.

I hope theymake an example of these guys, I would like to know where they are from???

Investigating since July 2009… bout time

http://www.startribune.com/local/202368581.html

MINNEAPOLIS – Ten men have been indicted in federal court for allegedly poaching walleye and other protected fish from the Red Lake and Leech Lake reservations and selling them on the black market, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday.

Authorities estimated the fair market value of the fish to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The charges outlined in four separate indictments date back to July 2009. The charges say some of the men took fish from Red Lake without approval of the Red Lake Fisheries Association and sold them illegally to a Bagley bar owner, who resold them.

Other defendants are accused of illegally using nets to catch fish from several lakes on the Leech Lake reservation, then selling those fish for commercial purposes. Some of the fish were sold to a restaurant owner in Bena, the indictment says.

Each man faces one count of the transportation, sale, and purchase of fish in violation of federal law. The maximum penalty is five years in prison if convicted.

The indictments seek the forfeiture of the defendants’ boats and other equipment used to poach, sell or buy the fish.

Do the accused live on the reservation and are band members? Red lake is a closed reservation – would the tribe prosecute?

I hope the penalties hit the businesses who bought them even more than the criminals. As long as there is a market for it, you will get the poachers crawl out of the woods every time. Make it too scary to buy for these restaurants and bars and that would go much farther than taking someone’s fishing nets away from them.

the bar in Bena is under new management, so I wonder if this all hit the fan awhile back? Also wonder if this is the same investigation from last year where that huge gut pile was found off of Leech Lake. Burn them at the stake.

Updated story from the Pioneer Press

10 indicted for commercial poaching of walleye, other fish on Leech, Red lakes

By Dave Orrick

[email protected]

Ten people have been indicted on charges of commercially poaching “hundreds of thousands of dollars” worth of walleye and other fish on the Leech Lake and Red Lake Indian reservations, federal officials announced Wednesday, April 10.

According to four indictments, fish were netted on Leech and Red lakes for the purpose of selling them — at least some potentially to restaurants. The indictment alleges illegal activities date back to 2009.

Some of the fish allegedly were netted on Lake Winnibigoshish, a tribal attorney said.

Leech, Upper and Lower Red, and “Winnie” are on the short list of the state’s greatest walleye lakes. The indictments come after years of speculation concerning black-market commercial walleye operations on the reservations.

The news is sure to inflame lingering resentment over tribal netting among sport anglers.

Both Leech and Red also saw walleye populations plummet within the past decade. Both lakes have recovered, but only after taxpayer-funded stocking and, in the case of Red, a complete closure of walleye fishing for several years. Today, walleye on Lake Mille Lacs appear to be declining, and tribal netting is suspected to be partly to blame.

Treaties and agreements with the state allow members of the Red Lake Nation and Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, as well as other tribes, to net fish for subsistence, but not to sell.

The probe into the alleged black market, referred to as “Squarehook” in a federal document, began in 2009.

The investigation featured undercover purchases of fish and involved officers with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, the Leech Lake Division of Resource Management, and the Red Lake Department of Natural Resources.

Investigators also seized fish in several raids.

“Authorities estimate the fair market value of the fish illegally obtained through the activity covered by these four indictments to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars,” the U.S. attorney’s office in Minneapolis said in a statement Wednesday.

In July 2011, federal authorities told the Pioneer Press they had completed a “takedown” of a suspected “significant operation” to illegally sell netted walleye on two reservations in northern Minnesota. Officials could not be reached to confirm that action was connected to Wednesday’s indictments.

Each of the 10 people has been charged with one count of transportation, sale and purchase of fish taken in violation of the Lacey Act, which can carry a maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.

Under the Lacey Act, it’s a crime to violate Native American tribal law. Tribal law was violated, alleges Lenny Fineday, legal director for the Leech Lake Band.

“The netting itself was not illegal,” Fineday said Wednesday. “What was illegal was the selling. We will be prosecuting in tribal court to the fullest extent of tribal law.”

A violation could carry a fine and revocation of rights to hunt, fish and gather on the reservation, he said.

Officials with the Red Lake Nation could not be reached for comment.

According to the U.S. attorney’s office, those charged are Larry W. Bellefy, 53, of Bagley; Thomas P. Sumner, 54, Brian W. Holthusen, 47, and Larry Good, all of Red Lake; Michael D. Brown, 54, no known address; Michael J. Nei, 48, of Bemidji; Jerry A. Reyes, 51, of Cass Lake; and Marc L. Lyons, 61, Frederick W. Tibbetts, 61, and Alan D. Hemme, 55, all of Bena, where Hemme owns a restaurant.

It will be very interesting to see what if any punishment is dealt out.