Greg Ritz - paid $50,000 in fines after pleading guilty to numerous misdemeanor viola
05-05-2009, 04:53 AM
#1
Banned
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2004
Posts: 20
Greg Ritz - paid $50,000 in fines after pleading guilty to numerous misdemeanor viola
Apr 03, 2009
Game Trails, a more than 12,000-acre Limited Liability Corporation commercial hunting preserve in Union and Crittenden counties, controlled by sole proprietor owner and then Thompson/Center Arms President and CEO Gregg Ritz, and its site manager, William Dirk McTavish, Jr., 43, of Paducah, paid $50,000 in fines after pleading guilty to numerous misdemeanor violations of the Lacey Act of taking wildlife unlawfully, and for making false statements to Kentucky officers about the takings and interstate transporting of wildlife.
United States Magistrate Judge E. Robert Goebel ordered that Game Trails LLC, pay a $35,000 fine and McTavish pay a $15,000 fine.
Robert Christopher Helms, 40, of Booneville, Indiana, and a former Game Trails guide, faces up to five years in federal prison after pleading guilty to a felony count of threatening a federal witness. His sentencing is scheduled for June 11.
Department wildlife and deer biologist David Yancy, in August 2007, noticed numerous inconsistencies while comparing and analyzing 2006 Telecheck deer harvest data with data that Game Trails LLC supplied to Quality Deer Management Association (QDMA) in Georgia.
Yancy and department Private Lands Wildlife Biologist Phillip Sharp raised these irregularities with Union County conservation officer Lt. Greg Noel. Noel, already familiar with Game Trails and the property, enlisted the help of Crittenden County officer Randy Conway. They began the lengthy process of reconciling the Telechecked deer harvest reports of Game Trails clients with information from QDMA.
Their investigation turned up numerous instances of Game Trails employees, their friends and family chronically taking over-limits of deer, outside hunting season parameters, supplying false information to Kentucky Fish and Wildlife and using social security numbers of Game Trails clients without their permission to Telecheck their deer harvests.
State and federal officers seized hundreds of deer jawbones and documentation tying them to Game Trails from QDMA headquarters in Atlanta during the investigation. By sending the jawbones to another state, Game Trails was guilty of transporting illegally taken deer out of state and triggered the Lacey Act violations.
Noel said that the property, bordered by about 4½ miles of Ohio River, was owned by Kimball International and leased to Ritz and sharecroppers. He said that the previous owner had used local draw hunting to manage the deer herd, but that Game Trails eliminated that practice because it interfered with its filming and big buck hunting routines. As a result, the herd grew quickly and Game Trails contacted QDMA to evaluate and make recommendations about improving the deer herd.
Game Trails then supplied QDMA with completed data sheets and jawbones of harvested deer. It was this data, discovered during the investigation, which conflicted with Telecheck data.
Noel says Game Trails has recently vacated the property and is moving its operations to Ohio.
http://fw.ky.gov/newsrelease.asp?nid=513
05-05-2009, 08:10 AM
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: Warren County NJ USA
Posts: 3,899
RE: Greg Ritz - paid $50,000 in fines after pleading guilty to numerous misdemeanor viola
Ritz is such a jerk!!!! All that land, free hunts around the world, money coming out of his A** and still he and others break the law, I'm happy he got fined, they should take his hunting rights away for life
05-05-2009, 11:40 AM
#6
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Camp Lejeune, NC
Posts: 3,869
RE: Greg Ritz - paid $50,000 in fines after pleading guilty to numerous misdemeanor viola
That's just crazy! Makes you wonder how many more of these big time hunting celebrities participate in these types of activities.
05-05-2009, 11:50 AM
#7
Dominant Buck
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: On an Island in Vermont
Posts: 22,594
RE: Greg Ritz - paid $50,000 in fines after pleading guilty to numerous misdemeanor viola
50K fine for him is unfortunately just a slap on the wrist. Canned hunting operations should all be outlawed.
05-05-2009, 01:44 PM
#8
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Baileysville, WV
Posts: 2,925
RE: Greg Ritz - paid $50,000 in fines after pleading guilty to numerous misdemeanor viola
This really doesnt surprise me. I call the vast majority of those tv hunting shows "pet monkey" shows. The stand has already been picked..the deer already scouted...all they have to do is manage not to fall out of the tree and shoot straight.
05-05-2009, 02:46 PM
#10
Senior Member
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Kuna Idaho
Posts: 115
RE: Greg Ritz - paid $50,000 in fines after pleading guilty to numerous misdemeanor viola
That is just too funny! 50,000 is a drop in the bucket for him. And yes they should take away his hunting rights .