June 7 , 2006

PROFESSIONAL HUNTING GUIDE SENTENCED
FOR VIOLATING FEDERAL FISH AND WILDLIFE LAWS

TOPEKA, KAN. – A professional hunting guide was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to violating a federal law against taking game illegally and transporting it across state lines.

Fred Mau, 58, Penrose, Colo., was sentenced during a hearing before U.S. District Judge Sam A. Crow.

“Mr. Mau will lose his right to hunt and to engage in the hunting guide business for 3 years,” said U.S. Attorney Eric Melgren. “He also will pay a $2,500 fine, as well as restitution of $7,500 to be paid to the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks Restitution Fee Fund.”

Mau pleaded guilty to one count of transporting illegally taken wildlife in interstate commerce, which is a misdemeanor. In his plea, he admitted that he was engaged in the business of brokering large game hunts across the United States in 1999 and 2000. During the deer season of 2000, he arranged to hunt in western Kansas.

On or about Dec. 2, 2000, he shot and killed a buck deer in Kansas. He only had one buck deer tag issued to him and he didn’t tag the deer because it was too small. A few days later, he killed a 160-point buck deer in Kansas and illegally tagged it with the only tag he had. He then transported the deer first to Wyoming and then to Colorado, where it was discovered in his possession at his home.

Melgren commended U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Hendershot for their work on the case.