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Poacher is fined record $50,000 BY LORNA THACKERAY OF THE GAZETTE STAFF A well-heeled Alabama poacher who admitted taking large numbers of animals from Rosebud County between 1994 and 1998 on Thursday was given the largest fine ever imposed in Montana for wildlife violations.
Fredric Clark, 56, of Toney, Ala., was fined a total of $50,000 on seven federal misdemeanor counts. In addition, Chief U.S. District Judge Jack Shanstrom ordered Clark to pay $50,000 in restitution. Half of the restitution will go to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks for enforcement programs. The other half will be given to the Wildlife Forensic Lab at Montana State University in Bozeman.
All set to pay upDefense attorney Vern Woodward told the judge that Clark came to court prepared to immediately pay the fine and restitution.The sentence also included three years of probation, during which time Clark agreed not to hunt, fish, trap or accompany anyone in those pursuits anywhere in the world. He will forfeit to the government the weapons used in illegal Montana hunts and has already forfeited animal parts taken as a result of the investigation. Shanstrom adhered to the terms of a plea agreement worked out between Clark and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kris McLean. McLean told Shanstrom that Clark has been cooperative and truthful with investigators working the case. Woodward presented Shanstrom with a stack of 175 letters written on Clark’s behalf. “In my 20 years experience, I’ve never had a case where there was so much support for a defendant," Woodward said. He called Clark’s activities in Eastern Montana, which stretched across a four-year period, “aberrant behavior." According to statements McLean made to the court in May when Clark pleaded guilty to the charges, Clark paid outfitters and guides in Montana nearly $60,000 to take him and others on hunting expeditions. “Basically, they allowed him to shoot and kill whatever he wanted," the prosecutor said. Clark, co-founder of an engineering company that has multimillion-dollar contracts with the Department of Defense, invited friends and relatives to hunt in Montana and often paid for their trips, the prosecutor said. They were also given a free hand. While in Montana, Clark and his associates hunted deer and antelope without a license, killed more animals than the limit allows and used tags not awarded to them, all in violation of Montana law. Clark was specifically charged under federal law with transporting illegally killed animals across state lines or aiding and abetting others in doing so. Many of the animals were mounted here and then shipped east. The animals listed in the indictment include one whitetail deer, three mule deer and three antelope – all bucks. Two other Alabama hunters and four Forsyth area residents who served as guides and outfitters were charged in January at the conclusion of an investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
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