FWC Law Enforcement Report

December 15, 2016

The Florida FWC Division of Law Enforcement reported the following activity during the week ending December 8 in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.

ESCAMBIA COUNTY

Lieutenant Hahr was patrolling the Perdido River Wildlife Management Area (WMA) when he observed a truck pulling into the Pipes after legal access hours. When he approached the truck, he observed the adult male driver and juvenile female passenger scrambling to hide a glass pipe and small box. After securing the occupants, he located a container of methamphetamine and various other drug paraphernalia. The man was arrested for possession of methamphetamine, possession of drug paraphernalia, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and accessing the management area after hours and booked into jail. The young woman was charged with possession of methamphetamine and possession of drug paraphernalia and turned over to the Department of Juvenile Justice.

Officers Long and Manning were at a local seafood dealer looking for a suspect that had an active warrant for failure to appear for commercial fishing violations. They had information that he was currently performing maintenance on his vessel. The officers boarded the vessel and located the subject hiding in a small compartment and transported him to jail for the warrant. He was also charged with possession of cannabis.

Officers Long and Manning conducted wholesale and retail license inspections at numerous fish markets and retail establishments. A total of five notice to appear citations and two written warnings were issued.

Lieutenant Hahr was patrolling the Perdido River WMA when he observed a vehicle enter an area after legal access hours. He pulled up to the truck and smelled a strong odor of cannabis coming from the interior. The occupants were two 16‑year‑old juveniles and one 15‑year‑old juvenile. Three types of alcoholic beverages were also found in the truck. The three juveniles admitted to smoking cannabis and the two passengers admitted to drinking. All three were charged with possession of alcoholic beverages, possession of not more than 20 grams of cannabis and possession of drug paraphernalia.

SANTA ROSA COUNTY

Officer Hutchinson received a call from a deputy who informed him that he observed a vehicle shining a spotlight in several fields late at night. The deputy stopped the vehicle and made contact with the driver. While speaking with the driver, he discovered a loaded hunting rifle inside of the vehicle. Officer Hutchinson responded to the location and made contact with the driver. The driver admitted to looking for deer while shining the light. After further investigation, Officer Hutchinson discovered fresh deer blood on a rack attached to the back of the vehicle. The subject informed Officer Hutchinson that his uncle shot the deer in Alabama while they were hunting together on the previous day. The subject then admitted to taking the deer and throwing the deer over a bridge into the water because he didn’t want to clean the deer. After further investigation, Officer Hutchinson discovered that the subject did not possess a Florida or Alabama hunting license. Officer Hutchinson made contact with the subject’s uncle who denied shooting the deer. The subject was issued a notice to appear citation for night hunting.

After the night-hunting case, Officer Hutchinson was approached by a truck with the passenger window rolled down. The driver of the vehicle asked Officer Hutchinson if everything was alright. While speaking to the subject, Officer Hutchinson could smell a strong odor of cannabis coming from the inside of the vehicle. He asked the driver to step out of the vehicle and questioned him about the cannabis. The subject admitted to having cannabis inside of the vehicle and turned it over to the officer. The male subject was issued a notice to appear citation for possession of cannabis under 20 grams.

Officer Ramos discovered signs of illegal placement of bait in the Eglin WMA. Over the course of several weeks, he conducted patrol and surveillance in the area where the corn was placed. Early one morning he returned to check on the location and found a previously identified suspect hunting from a tree facing the bait. After interviewing the suspect, the man admitted to placing bait in the WMA and was charged accordingly. In addition to several criminal charges, the suspect’s hunting and fishing privileges in Eglin WMA were revoked for one year.

While on patrol near Escambia River, Officer Ramos stopped to check a person fishing. The person said he had a valid fishing license, but then provided a false date of birth that did not match his name according to Dispatch. Officer Ramos escorted the man back to his vehicle to retrieve his driver license. When the subject opened his vehicle door, Officer Ramos smelled and saw an unburned marijuana cigarette in the ashtray. After further questioning, the man also admitted to possessing a weighing scale, which contained marijuana residue. Officer Ramos discovered additional drug paraphernalia and seized it for evidence and lab testing. The person was charged with possession of the marijuana, drug paraphernalia, and failure to have a valid fishing license.

Officer Ramos was on patrol in the Garcon Point area when he observed two men tonging oysters nearby. He conducted a vessel and resource inspection and chose a random bag of oysters for inspection. Florida law allows for an undersized tolerance of 5% per bag of oysters. The bag measured by Officer Ramos contained 75% undersized oysters. After interviewing the subjects, they admitted to having additional oysters inside their truck at the boat ramp. Officer Ramos found three partial sacks of oysters that were not on ice in the vehicle and one that was on ice. When all the oysters were properly measured, the men were found to be in excess of the daily bag limit of two bags (one extra full bag of oysters). Appropriate criminal charges were filed for the undersized oysters and over the bag limit violations.

While on patrol in the Robert’s Pond Unit of the Eglin WMA, Officer Ramos discovered a large 4×4 truck stuck in a wet-weather pond. Two men were actively attempting to get the truck out of the mud. There were large muddy ruts throughout the area and multiple deep holes where two different trucks had bogged down and destroyed sensitive habitat. The subjects admitted to off-roading in the closed area the previous night and one truck was unable to get back to the main road. Each person was issued a citation for operating a vehicle off the named and numbered road and a criminal citation for destruction of public lands by motor vehicle. Eglin Range Patrol police arrived and revoked the men’s access to the Eglin WMA for two years.

During the predawn hours, Officers Jones and Tolbert conducted foot patrol on the Eglin WMA near the community of Holley to locate an individual who had outstanding warrants for his arrest. The wanted person had fled from deputies on a four-wheeler ATV when they had previously attempted to arrest him. The officers believed the suspect was in the area. They located a campsite and arrested the individual without incident. A female who was with the subject was also detained and later released. The subject was booked into Santa Rosa County Jail. A notice to appear was issued to both individuals for trespass on Eglin property after legal hours.

Officer Cushing was working in the Blackwater WMA when he observed several dog hunters rushing to a certain area. He followed and checked the first hunter he encountered. While talking to him, he heard seven shots and a person state, “I got him,” over the radio. He located the source of the shots, but the hunters stated that they had missed. Lieutenant Hahr and Officer Jernigan arrived to assist and located where the hunter had been parked down a closed road. Officer Hutchinson contacted one of the hunters and obtained a confession. The hunter stated that he thought the deer was bigger but it was not a legal buck. He returned to the scene and showed the officers the location of the deer. He was issued a notice to appear for taking a buck without three points on one side or a 10‑inch main beam.

Officer Jernigan checked a hunter as he was leaving a WMA and determined that he did not have a hunting license or quota permit. He also discovered that the subject’s driver license had been suspended and there was a warrant out for his arrest. He booked the man on the warrant and driving with license suspended or revoked and issued the appropriate citations for the other offenses.

Officer Jernigan responded to a complaint of trespass on a private hunting club. The leaseholder found two subjects sitting in one of his tree stands. The subjects stated that they had been hunting and camping on the river and had walked to the private property and decided to hunt. The leaseholder wished to prosecute the subjects and charges will be pending after discussion with the state attorney’s office.

Officers from Escambia, Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties conducted a detail for the opening weekend of general gun season. They patrolled the high-activity areas within Santa Rosa and Okaloosa counties, including the Blackwater State Forest. They checked several hunters to ensure compliance of the established hunting rules in each area. They met with landowners who live in these high activity hunting areas and conducted patrols near their properties. The officers issued several warnings and citations for hunting and traffic violations.

This report represents some events the FWC handled over the past week; however, it does not include all actions taken by the Division of Law Enforcement. Information provided by FWC.

Comments

One Response to “FWC Law Enforcement Report”

  1. tsg on December 20th, 2016 3:45 pm

    Dog hunters at it again thats why it needs to be banned!

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News