image linking to 100 Top Bass Fishing Sites image linking to 100 Top Saltwater Fishing Sites image linking to 100 Top Fly Fishing Sites image linking to 100 Top Walleye Sites image linking to 100 Top Small Game Sites image linking to 100 Top Birds and Waterfowl Sites
* * * IMPORTANT NOTICE * * *
You are currently viewing the old OUTDOOR CENTRAL.COM website ARCHIVES.  For the latest in hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation related news, and an ALL NEW experience, including user friendly navigation, search capabilities, an Outdoor Central Video Network, and more, be sure to visit our NEW WEBSITE, located at http://www.outdoorcentral.com.    Visit the new, improved website, you'll be glad you did!  CLICK HERE
 

TWO RECEIVE PRISON SENTENCE FOR POACHING 114 ALLIGATORS
 

August 1, 2005
CONTACT: Gary Morse (863) 648-3203

**Press Briefing**
Date: Aug. 1, 2005 (Today)
Time: 10:30 a.m.
Where: FWC’s Lakeland Regional Office
Location: 3900 Drane Field Road

A little more than four years ago, law enforcement officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) arrested two subjects for illegally capturing 114 alligators on Lake Kissimmee. On Friday, June 27, 2005, Aaron Grant King, 48, of 19242 Hwy. 60 E., Lake Wales, operator of the airboat, and Russell Dave Bell, 49, of 2365 North Thomas Rd., Avon Park, pled no contest before 10th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Dale Durrance, to one count each of felony possession of an alligator.

King and Bell were sentenced to serve 10 months each in the Polk County jail, forfeit the 1993 Gilileo airboat and a .44 caliber handgun used in the commission of the crime, pay $370 for felony court costs, $350 restitution to the FWC and remain on probation for a period of three years.

King and Bell’s legal problems started on Sunday morning, April 8, 2001, when a security guard at River Ranch in Lake Wales heard shots being fired in the vicinity of Lake Kissimmee and called the FWC Wildlife Alert Hotline to report the incident. Officers Lee Birge and Randy McDonald staked out the boat ramp at the intersection of Highway 60 and the Kissimmee River after determining an airboat had been working the shoreline nearby.

The FWC Officers observed two individuals in an airboat approach the boat ramp around 1:40 a.m. Upon arriving at the boat ramp, a passenger carrying two mesh bags jumped out of the airboat. The officers watched the duo unload three more suspicious bags before stopping them and searching the bags.

King and Bell were found to be in illegal possession of 114 alligators. The alligators ranged in size from hatchlings to four feet in length. Of the 114 alligators, 72 were from one and one-half to four feet in length. The other 42 alligators were hatchlings. Officers confiscated and released all alligators alive except one that had been shot. At the time, King and Bell were each charged with one count of felony alligator possession. The state attorney’s office later charged the pair with 114 counts of felony possession of an alligator.

“This is one of the largest alligator poaching cases ever successfully prosecuted in Florida,” said Gary Morse, FWC spokesman.

To report wildlife and fisheries violations, call the Wildlife Alert Hotline at 1-888-404-FWCC (3922) at anytime. Those reporting violations may remain anonymous and also may be eligible for a reward.

 

 

Click Here To Return To The Previous Page

<%server.execute "/bottom.asp"%>