FWC Law Enforcement Report

December 5, 2017

The Florida FWC Division of Law Enforcement reported the following activity during the two week period ending November 30 in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.

ESCAMBIA COUNTY

Officers Allgood and Manning worked on the Escambia River checking hunters. They observed a vessel that was tied up along a wooded area where the occupants appeared to be hunting in the Escambia River Wildlife Management Area (WMA). The officers marked the spot and came back later when the individuals were not hunting, to check the area for bait. Shortly after they returned, they heard a vessel traveling to their location. When the subjects saw another boat in the area, they commented, “They better not be hunting my ground blind.” The two hunters were interviewed and confessed to placing bait at two nearby stand sites. Both hunters were carrying small plastic bags containing corn. Both baited stands were located and the hunters were issued notice to appear violations for placing bait in a management area.

SANTA ROSA COUNTY

Officer J. Rockwell was in Blackwater WMA when he noticed a small boat on the side of the road. Officer Rockwell ran the registration to identify the owner and later that afternoon, determined the vessel was stolen out of Okaloosa County. Officer Rockwell contacted the owner and returned the vessel.

While conducting surveillance on a local fishing pier, Officer Ramos observed a man and woman emerge from under the pier carrying fishing poles and equipment. They went to a vehicle and loaded all the gear into the car. Then, the man returned under the bridge and brought up a cooler. Officer Ramos approached the pair and asked if they had caught any fish. They replied, “No.” After checking fishing licenses and receiving consent to search the cooler, Officer Ramos discovered an undersized spotted seatrout, measuring 11 inches, hidden under ice. The man admitted he caught the fish and didn’t check its size. A database search revealed the man had two previous citations for similar offenses. The fish was seized and a notice to appear citation was issued.

While off duty, Officer Lugg received a report of a potential redfish violation occurring at the East River boat launch in Navarre. Once at work, Officer Lugg traveled to the boat launch to follow up with the information that he had received. The tip stated that a couple fishing at the boat launch were keeping undersized red drum and placing them in a white cooler. The individuals were located and a fisheries inspection was conducted. The couple stated that they were not keeping any fish and had not caught any fish to keep. There were no coolers around where the individuals were fishing and the individuals were adamant that they had not kept any fish. After a brief interview, their vehicle was located and their cooler was inspected. Officer Lugg discovered an undersized red drum, measuring 9½ inches. A notice to appear citation was issued for the violation.

While on land patrol in the Yellow River WMA, Officer Lugg observed a suspicious vehicle turn its headlights off while traveling through an intersection. The vehicle also failed to stop at a stop sign as it left the area in a hurry. During a stop of the vehicle, blood was observed in the back of the truck. After a brief interview, the operator admitted to shooting an undersized deer the day before and disposing of the carcass in the woods. Officer Lugg located the carcass of a spotted fawn. The subject was issued a notice to appear citation for the violation.

From a considerable distance, Officer Ramos observed a vehicle operating oddly in a remote neighborhood after midnight. When the vehicle stopped moving for a while, Officer Ramos drove closer and discovered that its hazard lights were now flashing due to a crash that had just occurred. Dispatch was informed that the truck had jumped a deep ditch and then ran head on into a large tree. The vehicle’s airbags had deployed and the driver had been knocked into the rear cab of his pickup with life threatening injuries. Fire Rescue and EMS personnel were notified and arrived to remove the driver. The driver was transported to a local hospital. The crash investigation was turned over to Florida Highway Patrol to determine the cause.

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

NorthEscambia.com photo.

Comments

One Response to “FWC Law Enforcement Report”

  1. dubya on December 7th, 2017 1:38 pm

    good job guys. remember .the people that hate you are the idiots who are breaking the law and get caught.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News