Sanpete County man sentenced in elk poaching case

Sanpete County man sentenced in elk poaching case

(Sanpete County Jail)


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SANPETE COUNTY — A Sanpete County man was recently sentenced in connection with illegally killing three elk without a permit.

The poaching occurred in January 2013 near Mayfield, according to a Division of Wildlife Resources news release. DWR officers were conducting a big game winter patrol in the area when they located the fresh carcasses of two dead antlerless elk. Both elk had been shot and left to waste in the field, the news release said.

The officers began to investigate and were able to collect evidence that a third elk had also been shot in the same area around the same time. However, the third elk had been taken from the scene without being field dressed — removing the organs.

Upon further investigation, DWR officers determined Ron Bartholomew had illegally shot the elk, DWR said. Bartholomew had been illegally given an elk landowner mitigation permit. The permits were given to landowners to enable them to harvest elk that were doing damage to their property. The permit had not been issued to Bartholomew and he illegally used it to harvest the elk, DWR said.

Bartholomew hunted on public land that was not within the property boundary for the landowner mitigation permit and he illegally shot and killed the three antlerless elk, DWR said.

Charges were filed and Bartholomew pleaded guilty in October 2014 to one count of wanton destruction of protected wildlife, a third degree felony. During the sentencing hearing, Bartholomew was ordered to pay a fine of $950 and restitution of $2,250 to the Utah Help Stop Poaching fund.

Bartholomew was ordered to serve 26 days in the Sanpete County Jail with two years probation, DWR said. He also may face suspension of his hunting privileges through DWR for the conviction.

Anyone who knows of a poaching incident can contact the UTIP hotline at 1-800-662-3337. Rewards are available for information leading to the arrests of the poachers, and tipsters can remain anonymous.

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Faith Heaton Jolley

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