Vale Man Sentenced For Lacey Act Violations

United States Attorney Brendan V. Johnson announced that a Vale, South Dakota, man charged with Lacey Act Violations pled guilty to and was sentenced on July 11, 2014, by U.S. Magistrate Veronica L. Duffy.

Glen Schummer, age 68, was sentenced to 1 year of unsupervised probation, $17,500 in restitution, a $500 fine, and a $10 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.  Schummer is also prohibited from hunting for one year.

The conviction stems from an incident that took place on February 5, 2014, when a hawk was observed trapped in a pole trap on a property owned by Schummer in Meade County.  An investigation revealed that Schummer had 2 illegal pole traps on his property.  He used the traps to illegally trap and kill great-horned owls and various species of hawks.  Once the migratory birds were trapped, Schummer would either shoot and kill the birds, or club them, and then dispose of the birds by throwing them into the river on his property. Schummer admitted to trapping and killing at least 10 migratory birds, to include great-horned owls and hawks on his property for the last several years.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan N. Dilges.