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Former Seasonal Employee At Great Smoky Mountains National Park Sentenced For Killing Wildlife In Park

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Published Date

April 25, 2011

Federal authorities say a former seasonal employee of Great Smoky Mountains National Park has been sentenced to pay $3,000 in fines and restitution, and ordered not to hunt or accompany anyone while hunting, anywhere in the world, for two years for killing a black bear and white-tailed deer in a national park.

Jason T. Taylor, age 25, of Edmonson County, Kentucky, was sentenced by U.S. Magistrate Judge E. Robert Goebel to pay a $1,500 fine and $1,500 in restitution to Great Smoky Mountains National Park, plus $75 in special penalty assessments, said David J. Hale, the U.S. Attoney for the Western District of Kentucky. The two-year hunting ban is a condition of Mr. Taylor’s probation.

Under a plea agreement Mr. Taylor pleaded guilty on April 20 to three counts of violating the Lacey Act for transporting unlawfully taken wildlife; specifically a black bear skin and an 8-point trophy set of white-tailed deer antlers, from the Smokies to his Kentucky home, the U.S. attorney said in a release.

According to court records, the man admitted that he had shot the animals in 2009 while
seasonally employed at the park.

Mr. Taylor also aided and abetted the fraudulent use of a Social Security number to obtain a “confirmation number” from the Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources for the deer he killed in the park, the U.S. attorney said.

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Comments

Submitted by admin on April 25, 2011 - 12:21pm.

Seems like a light sentence to me


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