Wildlife

California man ordered to pay $13K for killing 2 bears out of season

A California man pleaded guilty Tuesday in Petersburg district court to killing two bears on Admiralty Island while hunting was closed, according to Alaska State Troopers.

Griffen Fales, 20, entered the plea on multiple wildlife misdemeanors, troopers said in an online dispatch.

Back in 2015, wildlife troopers based in Petersburg received a report of an unsalvaged brown bear on Admiralty Island in Southeast Alaska.

"(An) investigation found that Fales had shot this bear, along with one other bear, on Admiralty Island during a closed season, than failed to salvage either of the bears," troopers said.

Fales was also found to have taken a deer without the proper license or a nonresident locking tag, troopers said.

Fales was sentenced to pay $10,000 in fines as well as restitution totaling $3,000 to the state for the three illegally taken animals, troopers said. A month of jail time was suspended. He's banned from hunting here for five years.

Jerzy Shedlock

Jerzy Shedlock is a former reporter for Alaska Dispatch News. He left the ADN in 2017.

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