Illegal Bear Kill Investigation Solved – On April 30, Senior CPO Phillips received information about a bear that had been killed, gutted, its claws cut off and dumped in a residential area in the Town of Pulaski.
Officer Phillips called Senior CPO Billings to assist and they went to the area. The officers canvased the neighborhood asking for any information about how the bear had been killed but nobody knew anything.
Several days later, Officer Phillips received a call from a woman that lived nearby that had heard a man in the neighborhood shot a bear and cut its claws off. Officer Phillips, Sgt. Koloda, and Officer Billings located the man who had been accused of shooting the bear and questioned him.
The suspect admitted to killing the bear, cutting its claws off, and dumping the bear. The suspect had buried the bear claws in the yard when he heard CPO’s were investigating the kill. Additional violations were uncovered during the investigation including an illegal turkey kill and illegal possession of deer meat. Appropriate charges were placed.
Hunting Over Bait – On the opening day of turkey season CPO Boyette was on patrol in Carroll County when he encountered two hunters at a parked UTV. They told him that they and their friends had come to the area to turkey hunt together.
Officer Boyette noted that there was corn on the back of their UTV and asked the men about it. They stated that there had been feeders at the location they were hunting but they had been taken down and all the corn was gone. They agreed to take Officer Boyette to the location and show him that all the corn was gone and the men walked a short distance to a clearing where they had a ground blind set up.
About 20 yards in front of the blind there was corn scattered on the ground in the location where the men said the feeder had been. They admitted that they knew the corn had been there even though they were not sure it was still there that morning.
At the house where all the men were staying, Officer Boyette met three more hunters that had been hunting on the property. They too agreed to show the officer the locations they had been hunting, each of which was also baited with corn. Each of the hunters was charged with hunting over bait.
Montgomery County Kid’s Fishing Day – On Saturday May 4, CPOs Lee Wensel, Gene Wirt, Wes Billings, K9 Josie, and Sergeant John Koloda hosted the Montgomery County Kids Fishing Day held at Pandapas Pond. The CPOs partnered with U.S. Forest Service employees, and Brad Buchannan with Montgomery County Parks and Recreation, for another successful event. There were over 225 people in attendance with 120 of those being active fishing participants.
Prizes were awarded for biggest fish, second biggest fish, and third biggest fish. Ten raffle prizes were also awarded. Drinks and hot dogs were provided for the crowd.
The event concluded with many successful fishermen with lots of smiles and memories.
CPOs Work with Several Agencies to Investigate Horrific Attack Along the Appalachian Trail – On Saturday, May 11, at approximately 0520 hours, District 33 Conservation Police Sergeant Daniel Hall was notified by DGIF Dispatch of a request for assistance from DGIF Conservation Police Officers through Smyth County Sheriff’s Office Dispatch by U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement Officer Chris Ramey related to a search for victims as related to an assault on hikers by an assailant, occurring on the Appalachian Hiking Trail in the area of Davis Valley in Smyth County, extending into Bland County, off Route 42, near the Ceres community.
After Sergeant Hall’s arrival at the mobile command site along the Appalachian Trail in Davis Valley, it was learned that the assailant had attacked a man and woman in the early morning hours at their campsite along the Trail in the Crawfish Valley area of Wythe County. It was also found that the assailant had committed the attack with the use of edged weapons, leaving both the male and female hiker severely wounded.
The female hiker, though severely injured in the attack, managed to escape the assailant and make her way back south on the trail during the night, a distance of approximately (6) miles where she came into contact with another group of hikers at an overnight shelter located in the Davis Valley area of the Trail. The hikers made contact with authorities in Smyth County to report the incident. A short time later in the morning, the assailant was found, and placed into custody by members of the Wythe County Sheriff’s Office Tactical Response Unit, near the location of the attack in Wythe County.
During the incident, U.S. Forest Service requested that DGIF Conservation Police accompany volunteer search and rescue personnel along remote sections of the Appalachian Trail, south of the incident site, to search for possible other, unknown victims of the assailant, which may have encountered him prior to the attack.
Sergeant Hall coordinated with CPO’s responding from Districts 31, 32, and 33 to carry out duties as requested during the incident. Conservation Police Officers Tyler Sheets, Jim Anders, Matt Akers, Craig Chillcott, Ben Boyette, Troy Phillips, Mark Brewer, and K-9 Officer Wes Billings assisted with or led individual groups of volunteer search and rescue personnel on foot, clearing approximately (15-20) miles of the Trail and interviewing and notifying hikers encountered, that the Trail was closed in the area due to the incident. CPO Akers, utilizing District 32’s ATV, assisted U.S. Forest Service Law Enforcement personnel, Virginia State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, Wythe County Rescue Personnel, and Wythe County Sheriff’s Office personnel at the incident scene, providing transportation of equipment to and from the scene to process evidence.
As reported by news agencies, a spokesman for the Department of Justice stated on Sunday, May 12; the 30 year old assailant identified in the incident, faces federal charges that include murder and assault with the intent to murder.
–VDGIF