Author
Comment
Rich Goszka
[/align]
Nov 5, 08 - 6:04 PM
CPO activity report 11/5/08
Region 1
On Saturday, November 1st in Suffolk, District 13 (Sgt. Crosby, CPO Beatley, CPO Barwick) and District 12 (CPO Murray; CPO Druy) officers were working a decoy operation. Around 9:25 a vehicle spotlighted the decoy. The suspects identified it as a decoy deer. Officers heard the vehicle operator say to the passenger, “go out there and smack that deer on the ass”. The passenger exited the vehicle and did so. Needless to say the both were cited for spotlighting. When addressing the operator it was determined he was also under the influence of alcohol and blew a .12 at the police department.
On Tuesday, November 4, 2008, Sgt. Rich Goszka, Officers Ken Williams and Joshua Jackson responded to a complaint of a subject hunting from a vehicle and drinking on a rural road in Westmoreland County. When officers initially arrived, one of them observed the vehicle passenger throw a beer can into an adjacent field. The passenger, a 17 year old male, was determined to be under the influence of alcohol. The operator was a known game law offender. Two loaded muzzleloading rifles were located between the driver and the passenger in the vehicle. The juvenile was taken into custody released to his guardian. The adult suspect was arrested for hunting under the influence and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Petitions will be obtained for the juvenile for hunting under the influence, littering, underage possession of alcohol and hunting without a state license.
Region 2
On the night of October 24, 2008, CPO's Chip Street and Josh Wheeler were working a spotlighting detail in Nelson County when a vehicle approached their area and stopped on a bridge and cut off it's lights. Officer Wheeler was observing the vehicle with night vision when numerous gun shots were discharged. The officers stopped the vehicle and arrested the driver for DUI, reckless handling of a firearm and discharging from the highway. Officer Street was able to recover 11 spent rounds from the road that will match the suspects M4.
Region 3
On Wednesday, October 15, 2008, at approximately 9:30 p.m., Conservation Police Officer Tosh Barnette was notified by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office of a tree stand hunting incident fatality in the Lovelady Gap section of Lee County. Officer Barnette responded and took charge of the investigation that had been initiated by the Lee County Investigator Chris Jerrells. Sergeant Steve Sutphin received notification of the incident from Richmond Dispatch and responded to assist with the investigation. Hunter Education Specialist Bob Riggs and Senior Conservation Police Officer Rick Salyers, from District 33, also responded to assist with the investigation. The investigation revealed that a 41 year old male and his nephew had been dropped off to hunt at about 5:30 p.m. When the hunters’ ride came back to pick them up later that evening, the victim had not come out to the road. The nephew went to look for him at his stand and found the victim lying on the ground below the stand. The stand was a poorly designed and poorly constructed permanent stand. The victim was not wearing any type of safety harness and had apparently fallen out of the dangerous stand and hit his head on a large rock that was protruding from the ground. When rescue personnel arrived on the scene the victim was unresponsive and pronounced dead at the scene. Officer Barnette’s continued investigation revealed that neither the victim nor the nephew had any hunting licenses’ and that both parties were trespassing to hunt without permission.
On the evening of October 25th, Conservation Police Officer Dan Hall was working a complaint of trespassing and baiting in Smyth County. Officer Hall came upon a subject with a bow and arrow in a climbing tree stand located approximately 10 yards from a sack of shelled corn with some of the contents lying out on the leaves. Officer Hall found that the subject did not have permission to be on the property and also to be hunting without any of the required licenses. Officer Hall issued summonses for hunting without the required licenses, hunting deer in a baited area and trespassing to hunt on property of another without permission from the landowner.
On October 25, 2008, Conservation Police Officer Jason Honaker was checking an area that he had known in the past to be baited. Officer Honaker came upon a man in a tree stand in the baited area. After identifying himself as a Conservation Police Officer, Officer Honaker had the suspect come down from the stand. As Officer Honaker talked to the suspect, he confessed to the officer that he had baited the area approximately one week earlier with the corn. Officer Honaker asked the man if anyone else had been hunting in the area and the suspect said that no one else hunted the area, only him. Officer Honaker explained to the suspect that he had observed tracks coming from different directions. The suspect said that he had been parking in two different areas near a local nursing home and walking in so no one could find his hunting spot. The suspect said that apparently it had not worked in this case. The suspect was charged with hunting deer over a baited area.
On October 24, 2008 Conservation Police Officer Jason Honaker received a complaint about a deer that was shot the previous night at approximately 11 p.m. in the Clinchport area of Scott County. Officer Honaker tracked a license plate number from a suspect vehicle back to a residence in Wise County. Officer Honaker was able to locate the residence and talk to the registered owners of the truck, who happened to be the parents of the 30 year old suspect. The parents explained that the truck belonged to their son even though it was in their name, but he was out of town at the time. Officer Honaker explained the events surrounding the investigation to the parents and they assured him that their son would cooperate with the officer when he returned home. On October 27, 2008 Officer Honaker met with the suspect and his cousin in Wise County. After separating the suspects and interviewing them, Officer Honaker obtained written confessions of their involvement in shooting the deer at night. Warrants have been obtained for shooting deer at night and shooting from the vehicle.
On October 29, 2008 Senior Conservation Officer Billings participated in the "Fall Fun Day" at Mcharg Elementary School in Radford City. The event was a special day for the kids to tour different or unusual types of equipment used by public safety personnel or private employers. Officer Billings used the District 31 Rescue One Jon Boat as a display for the event. The boat was one of the favorites as the kids were allowed to board the boat and learn about water safety and personal flotation devices. Approximately 20 stations were set up with different displays throughout the day. A total of 480 kids visited the Rescue One Jon Boat display.
Region 4
On the night of October 30th, Virginia Conservation Police Officers from Region 4 conducted a spotlighting and decoy saturation operation in Highland County. Four locations were chosen from previous complaints and officers were assigned to conduct ground and chase duties. Six decoys and 19 officers were utilized in this operation. Ground teams set up and monitored the decoys for potential violators. One of the teams consisting of Maj. Mike Clark, Lt. Kevin Clarke, Sgt. Steve Bullman, Hunter Ed. Specialist Kris Dougherty, and Officer Wayne Billhimer apprehended two suspects for shooting the decoy. Just before 8:00 pm., the suspects drove past the decoy location twice and on the third pass the passenger shot the decoy through the neck from the pickup truck with a .22 Magnum rifle. The initial stop was made by Maj. Clark. Sgt. Bullman arrived shortly thereafter to place 8 charges on the two occupants of the vehicle. The firearm, a Marlin Model 882 SS, had been thrown from the vehicle as they left the decoy location and was recovered by Lt. Clarke and Officer Dougherty.
On November 1, Conservation Police Officers from District 43 worked a decoy deer operation on in Alleghany County. The first vehicle to pass by the decoy deer stopped and shot it with a .223 caliber rifle. The following summons were issued to two subjects; 2 charges of spotlighting, shooting from the road, attempt to take deer during the closed season, and attempt to take deer with rifle less than 23 caliber.
Region 5
On October 29th Sgt. Jim Croft and Senior Officer Joe Valasek were conducting an investigation into numerous deer being shot with firearms during the archery season. After developing suspects the officers searched a vehicle being operated by one of them at a country store in Chesterfield .The suspects denied having any guns in the car. After noticing blood on the bumper of the car and obtaining other probable cause that the vehicle had evidence in it the officers asked the suspect to open the trunk. The suspect replied that he only had a valet key that did not open the trunk and attempted to demonstrate how his key did not open the trunk by inserting it into the lock only partway into the lock. Sgt. Croft then assisted the suspect by inserting the key all the way into the lock whereupon the trunk opened and officers located a .22 rifle and a pump shotgun as well as a large marijuana bong and a cooler full of illegal deer meat. In a locked glove box another marijuana smoking device was located. A confession was obtained from the suspects about their involvement into killing numerous deer. This investigation is still continuing.