New Watchdog Probe Into Ohio Wildlife Licenses
Associated Press
COLUMBUS, Ohio—The state watchdog is investigating allegations that wildlife officers broke the law by providing out-of-state wildlife officers Ohio fishing licenses at a discount, The Associated Press has learned.
The probe by the Ohio Inspector General follows similar allegations involving a hunting license that has led to felony charges against the wildlife division’s top administrators.
All are on paid leave while they are prosecuted over the hunting license allegations.
The Ohio Division of Wildlife reprimanded two officers in 2007 for helping fellow wildlife officers from Indiana obtain Ohio fishing licenses at the lower, Ohio rate of $19, according to wildlife records released to the AP through a records request.
The officers let the Indiana officers use the Ohio address of wildlife regional offices in Xenia in southwest Ohio. Normally, the Indiana officers would have paid $40 for the license.
Indiana allows out-of-state wildlife officers who are in the state on official business to obtain hunting and fishing licenses at in-state rates. Ohio does not have a similar policy, and it is illegal to put down false information on the licenses when filling them out.
The Oct. 7, 2008, letter of reprimand indicates the officers had a supervisor’s authority to obtain the licenses.
Despite that, “This was against Division of Wildlife directive and should not be repeated again in the future,“ according to the letters signed by Todd Haines, then the manager of the Xenia office.
Haines is one of six officials who have pleaded not guilty in the 2006 case of an Ohio wildlife officer who let a South Carolina officer use his home address to receive a $19 Ohio hunting license, saving $106. Haines was charged with one count of obstructing justice and one count of complicity.
Josh Zientek, one of the wildlife officers reprimanded over the fishing license issue, declined to comment Tuesday.
“I trust the system and we’ve just got to let the system work,“ he said.
At issue with the hunting license is whether Ohio officials knowingly broke the law. Several told investigators that the practice was widespread in the past.
David Graham, chief of the Ohio Wildlife Division, told investigators the practice of providing the in-state license rate was probably outdated but he didn’t think of it as a crime.
“I just had come to the conclusion over time that it just wasn’t the probably a socially acceptable thing to do anymore,“ Graham said in a Feb. 1, 2010, interview with investigators reviewed by the AP.
However, the inspector general’s investigation of the hunting license issue released last week says officials knew what happened was illegal.
“The reality is that Wildlife administrators knew that providing false information on the hunting license application is a criminal offense,“ the report said.
Graham also acknowledged to investigators he was close friends with Allan Wright, the wildlife officer who allegedly obtained the cheaper hunting license for the South Carolina official.
Graham has pleaded not guilty to one count of obstructing justice and one count of complicity
http://www2.nbc4i.com/cmh/news/crime...icenses/35402/