Conservation Law Enforcement Corner – November 2015

The Hall of Shame column is designed to highlight the efforts of Georgia DNR Law Enforcement Division (LED) officers who, among their many duties, protect Georgia’s wildlife, sportsmen and natural resources from game-law violators

Lumpkin County: On Jan. 5, 2015, at approximately 11:20 a.m., a DNR Law Enforcement Division (LED) officer was checking for activity in a highly concentrated complaint area in Lumpkin and White counties.

According to an account of the incident provided by the state, Ranger First Class (RFC) Anne Britt located a red Jeep Grand Cherokee parked on a woods road off Post White Hill Road in Lumpkin County. RFC Britt stopped her patrol vehicle to check on the operator of the vehicle. The driver, identified as Dylan Cash, said everything was alright, but RFC Britt noticed he was out of breath. 

When the DNR officer asked why he was out of breath, Cash explained that he had hit a deer, a 4-point buck, with his vehicle earlier that morning at approximately 9 a.m. Cash said the deer had been laying in the road, so he shot it in the back of the head, and it got up and ran off into a pasture. 

Cash told the officer he had then taken the .22 rifle back to a residence down the road and came back to locate the deer. He said he did this so if someone saw him, he wouldn’t look as if he was hunting on someone else’s land. Cash said he found the deer in the pasture and dragged it back out to his vehicle. Cash said he had just pulled the deer up from the woods road and left it behind his Jeep when RFC Britt showed up, explaining why he was out of breath. 

RFC Britt looked over the vehicle with Cash and did not see any evidence of a deer being hit. RFC Britt asked him to walk down the road to see if there was any evidence of a deer-vehicle collision on the road. As they walked down the road, Cash admitted to shooting the deer from the road, from his vehicle, with a .22 rifle.

Cash then told RFC Britt that he had already lost his privilege to hunt for two years and knew he could not have been hunting. RFC confirmed Cash’s hunting privilege suspension. Cash had been arrested by Cpl. Adam Loudermilk in 2013 for hunting deer at night.

RFC Britt asked to see the rifle, and Cash met her with the .22 Marlin Model 60 rifle. RFC Britt charged Cash for hunting out of season, hunting while suspended, hunting from a public road, hunting from a vehicle, possession of illegally taken wildlife and warned him for hunting with an illegal weapon.

RFC Britt confiscated the 4-point buck and donated it to Hunters for the Hungry. 

Cash pleaded guilty in the Lumpkin County Probate Court to five charges, and his fines totaled $1,423.

Candler County: On Dec. 5, 2014, DNR Law Enforcement Ranger Jordan Crawford was in position watching a pecan orchard off Salem Church Road in Candler County.

“At approximately 9:55 p.m., I observed a truck drive by my position and then begin to slow down,” Ranger Crawford said in an incident report. “I observed a hand-held light shine from the driver’s side window of the truck. The light scanned the whole pecan orchard and then shined back toward my position, illuminating my patrol truck. At that time the light was shut off, and the truck sped away down Salem Church Road. I reached speeds of 80 to 85 mph to catch up with the vehicle. The truck had turned down Bland Rocker Road. At that time, I activated my emergency blue lights and was able to catch up with the truck to perform a traffic stop. It was approximately 2.4 miles from the pecan orchard.”

Four people were in the truck. 

“I asked the driver, Patrick Wentzel, if he knew why I had pulled him over, and he said it was ‘because I shined a light.’ I then asked if there were any weapons in the truck, and Wentzel stated that there was two rifles under the back seat. 

“At that time Cpl. Eddie Akins arrived on scene to help with the investigation. All suspects were asked to step out of the vehicle and advised of their rights. The vehicle was searched, and two loaded magazines were found in the glove box that matched the two high power rifles found under the back seat. A Stream Light hand-held flashlight was found in the front seat next to the driver’s seat belt buckle. 

“I asked Wentzel why he sped off when he shined my truck, and he stated he didn’t know who it was, and he knew how it would look with the guns in the truck. I asked Wentzel why he shined the light on the pecan orchard, and he stated that he saw something run across the road, and he wanted to see what it was. I then interviewed James Conrad and Dakota Scott, and their stories where the same. The fourth subject was a 14-year-old juvenile.

Scott, Wentzel and Conrad were charged with hunting deer at night, hunting from a road and hunting from a vehicle. Each paid a cash bond of $237.