Keith Lusher 07.28.25
5 males have been sentenced in federal courtroom for his or her roles in a complicated Mississippi poaching ring operation that focused trophy whitetail deer throughout a number of counties in southern Illinois over a four-year interval. The organized searching ring, which operated between 2018 and 2022, used spotlights to illegally scout and kill white-tailed deer in Massac, Jefferson, Union, Pope, and Clark counties earlier than transporting the carcasses throughout state traces to Mississippi for processing and mounting.
Mississippi Poaching Ring – Chief Faces Heaviest Penalties
Lee Jay Johnson, 54, of Saucier, Mississippi, who served because the operation’s ringleader, acquired the stiffest sentence. Johnson pleaded responsible to illegal transport of wildlife below the Lacey Act and was ordered to pay $75,000 in restitution plus a $10,000 wonderful. He was sentenced to 5 years of probation however averted jail time.
The 4 different defendants additionally acquired probation sentences starting from three to 5 years:
Steven J. Pique, 56, of Biloxi, was ordered to pay $2,000 in restitution after pleading responsible to conspiracy expenses.Gerald B. Moran, 40, of Saucier, faces $5,000 in restitution and a $2,500 wonderful.Joshua A. Marshall, 30, of Saucier, acquired a three-year probation time period with $7,500 in restitution and a $2,500 wonderful.John M. Pritchard, 57, of Biloxi, should pay $10,000 in restitution and a $5,000 wonderful.
Mississippi Poaching Ring – Calculated Operation Spanned A number of Counties
Court docket paperwork reveal the systematic nature of the unlawful searching operation. The group would use spotlights to scout deer places, then return with rifles to kill the animals below cowl of darkness. After harvesting the deer, they transported the carcasses to Mississippi the place they processed the meat and mounted trophy heads and antlers.
In response to Illinois Conservation Police Sergeant Heath Tepovich, who labored the case, officers consider they solely uncovered a few quarter of the group’s precise poaching actions. Whereas courtroom information doc violations beginning in 2018, Tepovich indicated that Johnson had been working within the area for roughly 20 years, with the group liable for poaching roughly 60 deer that authorities find out about.
The case required intensive coordination between a number of legislation enforcement businesses. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Illinois Conservation Police led the investigation, with assist from federal wildlife officers, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Mississippi Division of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, and each U.S. Lawyer’s places of work from the Southern Districts of Illinois and Mississippi.
“This was not an remoted incident of illegal searching; somewhat, it was a calculated, multi-year operation that exploited Illinois’s prized wildlife sources for private achieve,” mentioned Assistant Director Douglas Ault of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Workplace of Legislation Enforcement.
Mississippi Poaching Ring – Monetary Penalties
The full restitution and fines for all 5 defendants approached $120,000. Below the settlement, fines will likely be directed to the Lacey Act Reward Account by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, whereas restitution funds will go to the Illinois Division of Pure Assets to assist conservation efforts.
Illinois calculates trophy poaching fines primarily based on antler measurement, with 8- to 10-point bucks incurring $1,000 plus $500 per level, whereas bucks with 11 or extra factors face $1,000 plus $750 per level.
The case underscores the continued problem of combating organized poaching operations that undermine wildlife conservation efforts and violate fair-chase searching ideas valued by moral hunters nationwide.
