Armed with a Super Cub the deadliest of all the tools utilized by hunting guides in Alaska Brad Lee Langvardt prowled the mountains and valleys of the Brooks Range in search of grizzly bears, Dall sheep, wolves and trophy caribou. He used the plane to build himself a good business, until the law caught up.

Tipped off by hunters last fall, agents with the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service began investigating the 41-year-old Soldotna guide.

They caught him landing hunters next to animals to make for easy shooting in violation of a law against hunting the same day airborne. They discovered he let hunters kill some animals, grab the horns or antlers and leave the meat to rot. And they found that he was flying into the Gates of the Arctic National Park to do some of his sheep hunting.

Last week, Langvardt paid the price for his poaching.

A federal judge in Anchorage sentenced him to 18 months in jail and forfeited his $30,000 airplane to the federal government.

Originally charged with 30 counts of illegal hunting, Langvardt worked out a deal with federal prosecutors to plead guilty to felony perjury, four felony violations of the Lacey Act prohibiting interstate trafficking in wildlife, and a misdemeanor violation of the Lacey Act, according to park service spokesman John Quinley.

Both the Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service sent out press releases highlighting Langvardt's stiff sentence in hopes it might discourage more such illegal hunting with the use of airplanes, a persistent problem in Alaska.

"The sentence and consequences of this activity puts anyone considering similar crimes against wildlife and the American public on notice," Walter Stieglitz, regional director for the Fish and Wildlife Service was quoted as saying.

Both Stieglitz and Park Service regional director John Morehead praised the sophisticated techniques used to catch Langvardt, assistant guide Brent Allen Shuman of Wasilla, and clients Tim Gress of Ennis, Mont., and Richard Damele of Concord, Calif.

Meat taken from a sheep carcass in Gates of the Arctic, for instance, was genetically matched through DNA analysis to meat taken from a sheep hindquarter in the possession of Damele at a camp at Oohlah Lake in the Brooks Range, according to Quinley. Meanwhile, James Wolfe of the Alaska Crime Detection Laboratory matched a lower leg found at the kill site to the hindquarter.

Photographs and videotapes seized from Langvardt's clients also provided evidence, Quinley said. Investigators now say Langvardt, Shuman and their two clients were responsible for using the airplane to shoot brown bear, caribou and wolves; of killing at least three sheep and a wolf in Gates of the Arctic park; and of killing a caribou along the Stuyahok River and leaving it to rot.

Shuman previously pleaded guilty to charges stemming from his role in the hunts, according to Quinley. Shuman faces a sentence of 300 hours of community service and the loss of his hunting privileges for two years.

Gress has agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges and pay a $10,000 fine, according to Quinley. Damele has agreed to plead guilty to one count and pay $5,000.

The investigation into Langvardt's activities also continues. Federal agents now believe that his hunters may be responsible for the illegal kills of at least two more brown bear, three moose, three more caribou; and two more sheep.

Reference:

Anchorage Daily News