Mushroom Hunting and Johnny Law

so my boss comes in to work today and tells me a story about his brother who lives in western Illinois. His brother drives into a cemetary, which the family has 12 of their members buried in, parks his truck and goes along the back side of the fence to an opening, where he disappears for about 20 minutes. He is hunting for morals in a spot he has gone for a long time. When he comes back he finds that a man has taken a photograph of his license plate and when they lock eyes (ive met my bosses brother and hes not an intimidating guy) the man runs into a building and locks the door. My bosses brother thinks its weird and drives home. About 2 hours later a DNR agent shows up at his door and demands that he admit what he was doing. The brother denies it. The DNR agent says that he can either admit that he was mushroom hunting or he can be taken to jail right now (does a DNR agent have that kind of authority even?). The brother admits and and says “fine, give me a fine and go away”. So the end result is the brother now has a court date where he is facing criminal tresspassing charges with a minimum penalty of a 600$ fine and a maximum of 25,000 dollars and 6 months in jail. My opinion is that he should have gotten a warning considering he has never been in trouble with either the law or the DNR before. The land he was mushroom hunting on is an old abaondoned site that is privately owned by a company in Chicago. What do you think?

What,Illinois has a mushroom season? I think I’d move to Minnesota or Wisconsin where mushrooms are pickable whenever a guy wants to pick them.. This is petty.

This sounds like a trespassing issue and nothing to do with WHAT he was doing. The whole thing sounds fishy. He’s probably win in court.

If he broke the law he broke the law. Whether he has done it before or not isn’t really the point. This time he got caught. Sorry, I just don’t have any sympathy for trespassing.

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If he thought he was doing nothing wrong then why did he deny doing it? Trespassing can be handled with a citation or an arrest. Depends on the situation.
DT

I’m not really here to say one way or another. I was just curious what people thought. I think 25k and 6 months in jail is rediculious for someone searching an abandoned lot for some tasty food. I think we can all see the difference between that and trespassing in the sense of breaking into someone’s home and walking into someone’s land with the intent to harm. If you ask me it’s also a gigantic waste of resources and time

I think you’re missing the point Crappie.

It doesn’t matter if he’s looking for tasty food or would have a dastardly motive.

Just by walking on private property without permission is trespassing and those are the fines the State of I’ll see fit to have. End of story.

My opinion that’s not worth jack squat? Excessive.

With the increasing popularity of gathering wild foods and the popularity of “organic” and local ingredients, there has been a big rise in people gathering and selling mushrooms, berries, roots, herbs etc.

And where there’s money to be made, the bending and breaking of laws soon follows. I suspect your boss’ brother got caught in some Illinois crackdown on trespass related to wild gathering activities.

Bottom line is trespassing is trespassing, it doesn’t matter what his reason for being on the land was. He didn’t own the land and it’s not public land. It doesn’t matter what his intent was or if, in his opinion, he was causing harm.

This is happening a lot with people crawling all over what they see as “public” land that’s really not. Golf courses, housing development public areas, nature reserves, city parks, etc.

My understanding from hunting forums is that trespassing and poaching are rampant in IL. So it’s not surprising to me that the DNR is busting people.

Grouse

Yeah, I see all of your points and I get he broke the law. maybe I have less respect for some laws than others… I think there is another post similar to this going right now about the railroad crossing issues and most people seem to be blasting that decision

Perfect example of why I would recommend to never, ever, ever admit guilt to somebody while being questioned. Without proof (parking in a cemetery is not against the law), the only “evidence” of the actual crime sounds like his admission of guilt. His confession will cost him.

PS the RR Xing law is excessive to in my opinion.

I already said what my opinion is worth.

Camo

Is the maximum penalty excessive for a case like this? Yes, it is. But it is the law, as simple as that. If everybody keeps getting handed the low end of the law then it may not change the actions of the public. Unfortunately, somebody may get accused of the crime at the wrong time and the authorities are out to prove a point that they take said crime very seriously.

Post deleted. Subject and state irrelevant.

must be some damn good shrooms back there…..

go ask alice

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If I remember correctly only a police officer can issue a ticket or arrest someone for trespassing. Also if they did not actually see him on the land they only have his word against the guy that took the picture of his license plate.

I would think only the owner of the property could call the police to have someone cited or arrested?

I’m assuming it was probably a caretaker that called it in. I would also have to assume the owner of the property gave him control of the property. If a citation was issued, this is what would happen. The caretaker and the suspect would both be at the court/jury trial to testify. It would be up to the judge/jury to decide.

In a case like this the maximum penalty may seem high. However, these statutes cover many circumstances and many types of trespassing. Some may warrant the high fine and jail time.
DT

Another example of killing a mosquito with a shotgun by a Billy do gooder, what ever happened to warnings. Theres all kinds of scenarios of what could of been, I think a warning is due here.

Excessive yes.

Me, if he already admitted guilt as he has. I reach out to the business owning the property with an apology, explanation, and see if I can get them to ask for charges to be dropped. Guessing in most cases, unless there are a lot of other issues going on, and it was well marled, he has a good chance of working it out with the property owners. Nothing to loose as I see it…. heck, he may even get permission for the future, stranger things have happened.

Mossy, It the person in control of the land wants to pursue charges then it is out of the CO’S hands.
DT

If the property is not posted as “no trespassing”, there is nothing they can do to press charges. In wisconsin, we have to have very visible signs all along our property to press charges of trespassing.

I guess maybe Illinois is different? I dunno?

MN 609.605 Subd. 1(b)(6) states:

(6) enters or is found on the premises of a public or private cemetery without authorization during hours the cemetery is posted as closed to the public;

Maybe Illinois has a similar clause?
DT

Remember, he only used the cemetary as access. He went thru a hole in a fence to gain entry to another property. You probably don’t need to “post” a fenced-in area.

HRG

I thought only the owner of the property could press charges. I would of asked the CO who lodged a complaint. The CO just can’t charge a person with trespassing if it is private property.

Never admit to fault . Period. Ever. Deny to the end.

Ther is absolutely nothing to be gained by confessing to something that they did not catch you doing.

no way they can prove anything

Well there goes another simple mushroom hunter that might have turned in an illegal operation of some kind, around here mushroom hunters are the good guys. I know it was fenced but it wasn’t posted no trespassing or ask permission or a stay out sign. Its still fenced but the guy has been going there for many years, still don’t see any harm and can’t see why he was charged in the first place, because he’s only a simple mushroom hunter and not a big rowdy beer drinking party or a meth lab.

So, I guess we can all agree that it is legal to trespass if you have no criminal history…. I give up.
DT