Federal Sentences Handed Down in Saco-Area Poaching Case
Wednesday, August 19th 2009
BILLINGS, Mont. – Three members of a Saco-area ranching family were sentenced in U.S. District Court here Wednesday for their roles in a longtime wildlife poaching scheme that spanned from Montana to the Gulf Coast.
Senior U.S. District Court Judge Jack Shanstrom ordered 74-year-old Leo O. Bergtoll to pay $15,000 in fines; complete 36 months of federal probation; allow his land to be used in the Wounded Warriors Project for injured service veterans for three years; and enroll his property in the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks' (FWP) Block Management public access program for a period of five years without receiving any financial compensation. Leo Bergtoll, owner of the Frenchman Valley Ranch north of Saco, also lost his hunting, fishing and trapping privileges for five years.
Bergtoll's wife, Anna Lou L. Bergtoll, 69, was ordered to pay an additional $15,000 in fines; complete 24 months of federal probation; and participate in the Wounded Warriors Project for three years. She also lost hunting, fishing and trapping privileges for five years.
The couple's son, 44-year-old Darrel L. Bergtoll, who ranches on property that is separate from his parents, was ordered to pay $15,000 in fines; complete 40 months of federal probation; allow his land to be used in the Wounded Warriors Project for three years; and enroll in FWP's Block Management Program for five years without payments.
The Bergtolls were accused of running a high-volume, big-game hunting operation based on the fraudulent use of FWP's landowner-sponsored licensing program.
The program is designed to make landowner-sponsored hunting licenses available so private property owners who are Montana residents can let a limited number of other hunters pursue and harvest big game animals on their private land. Quotas are placed on the number of licenses sold.
The Bergtolls and their Louisiana-based client broker, 61-year-old Anthony J. Bazile, devised a scheme to charge out-of-state hunters for applying for these licenses, as well trespass fees to enter the Bergtoll's ranch property in the Frenchman Creek area of Phillips and Valley counties and hunt illegally. The hunters, primarily from Louisiana, Texas and Alabama, were provided with room, board and baited hunting blinds as part of the deal.
Even if they couldn't obtain licenses, clients were still encouraged to come to the property to hunt. To cover their tracks and keep their clients hunting with an appearance of legality, the Bergtolls at times resorted to selling their own personal hunting licenses and those of their ranch employees.
Leo Bergtoll was charged with a felony count of conspiracy to violate the federal Lacey Act for a period covering 1998 to 2003. Anna Lou Bergtoll and Darrel Bergtoll each were charged with a misdemeanor count of violating the Lacey Act, which regulates the interstate transport, purchase and sale of wildlife.
In February the three Bergtolls pleaded guilty to the charges, which followed a long investigation dubbed "Operation Louisiana Purchase" by state and federal law enforcement officials. Bazile is to be sentenced Sept. 9 for a single felony violation of the Lacey Act. The cases were prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Anderson of Missoula.
Judge Shanstrom determined that the Bergtolls conducted 61 illegal hunts during the period, with each hunt valued at $1,700. Investigators say Bazile kept about $119,000 in profit from the approximately $183,000 he collected as the outfitting operation's far-flung booking agent.
In addition to Bazile and the Bergtolls, a total of 45 client-hunters were convicted on state charges, which resulted in more than $25,000 being collected. Three elk, 31 white-tailed deer and 10 mule deer were seized in the operation, which started after FWP wardens received tips from other hunters, landowners and others about the illegal activity.
"These criminal sentences mark the end of a long era of abuse by these defendants, as well as the prolonged theft of Montana's wildlife resources, which belongs to every citizen, not just a select few who want to profit from it," said FWP Region 6 Warden Captain Mike Herman, who also served as the lead state investigator in the case. "This was the largest illegal commercial operation involving the landowner-sponsor program in the history of Montana. Wildlife in this area will surely see a great benefit from shutting this illegal hunting down."
