By Eric Freedman
A federal judge in Illinois has sentenced two owners of a now-defunct guide and outfitting business to probation for wildlife trafficking and ordered them to pay restitution to the state.
Billy Reed and Matthew Adams had pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act, which makes it illegal to transport any wildlife taken in violation of state law across state lines. They operated M&M Outfitters in Benton.
Reed and Adams transported six trophy mounts of white-tailed deer for clients from Illinois to Pennsylvania in November 2010 without the necessary permits.
The hunt required two permits, a Department of Natural Resources (DNR)) outfitting permit for $2,500 and an out-of-state hunting permit costing about $300 per hunter, Jim Porter, the acting U.S. attorney for Southern Illinois told Great Lakes Echo. .
According to the criminal charge, the two men violated the federal prohibition against “knowingly and unlawfully causing to be acquired and transported wildlife, a deer, in interstate commerce.”
Nobody else was charged in the case, Porter said.
In a press statement announcing the sentences, Porter’s office said, “The Illinois Wildlife Code requires that, before any person provides or offers to provide, for compensation, outfitting services for deer hunting, the person must apply for and receive a permit from the DNR. Federal law prohibits the interstate transport of illegally-gotten game.”
At sentencing, U.S. Magistrate Judge Philip Frazier placed Reed and Adams on probation for one year and ordered each to pay $2,500 restitution to the DNR.
The charges followed an investigation by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement and the DNR.
The investigation began in 2011 after the DNR received a tip from a former guide, Porter said.
The two men started plea negotiations with prosecutors shortly afterwards, but the process took an unusually long amount of time because their first defense lawyer withdrew.
“We tried to get in touch with individuals with great difficulty,” Porter said. “One moved to Alabama. Then we charged (them), and then Reed and Adams got appointed counsel.”
Their current lawyers didn’t respond to phone requests for comment.