Sweet Home Men Sentenced for Crimes Against Wildlife

Penalties included 3 months or more in jail, fines, and hunting and angling suspensions.

Nathan John Rice Photo courtesy: Oregon State Police/Linn County Jail

(ALBANY, Ore. ) - Two Sweet Home-area men were sentenced Friday in Linn County Circuit Court for wildlife violations and related crimes that occurred during the fall of 2007.

Penalties included 3 months or more in jail, fines, and hunting and angling suspensions.

According to Oregon State Police Trooper Jim Halsey, on October 30, 2007 at about 11:00 p.m. Nathan John Rice and Michael Mason, both from Sweet Home, were observed by OSP troopers breaking a gate lock off accessing private timberland. Both were observed during surveillance several times in the prior weeks committing the same act.

On October 31st at about 2:30 a.m., both men were stopped as they were driving out of the private timberland. Troopers found in the bed of their pickup a trophy blacktail buck that had been shot with a rifle using the aid of a spotlight. At the time, Mason was under a two year hunting suspension for wildlife crimes committed in 2006. Rice was a convicted felon and could not possess firearms. Both men were arrested on wildlife and other related crimes and transported to the Linn County Jail where they were lodged.

On March 14, Rice pled guilty to:

• Felon in Possession of a Firearm
• Two counts of Criminal Mischief in the Second Degree
• Taking Fish and Game Prohibited Method

Rice was sentenced to 90 days in jail; $2,499 in restitution and court fees; and, 36 months bench probation. As a condition of this probation, Rice may not be present with anyone else who is hunting and cannot be in possession of any big game animal or animal parts. He also received a five-year hunting and angling suspension.

Mason pled guilty to:

• Take Fish and Game Prohibited Method
• Criminal Mischief in the Second Degree

Mason was sentenced to 105 days in jail; $1,650 in restitution and court fees; and, 36 months bench probation. As a condition of this probation, Mason may not be present with anyone else who is hunting and cannot be in possession of any big game animal or animal parts. He also received a three-year hunting and angling suspension in addition to his current suspension.
Source: Oregon State Police

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