Steve Herrman

 Poaching of bull elk

Laramie, WY     Albany County

September, 2001

A five-year case involving the poaching of a bull elk came to a close on Friday, August 11th, when Second Judicial Circuit Court Judge Robert Castor sentenced a former Albany County resident.

Steve Herrman, 42, is currently serving in the Sterling, Colorado Correction Facility for felony Game and Fish violations in Colorado State.  He was transported to Laramie, Wyoming on Wednesday, August 9th by Wyoming Game and Fish Warden Bill Haley and Albany County Sheriff Jim Pond for four misdemeanor Game and Fish violations.

   (Photo courtesy of Rob Densmore, Laramie Bomerang)   In mid-September 2001 a landowner found a headless elk with about one quarter of meat left on it on his property.  Haley stated that the poaching was on private property southeast of Laramie.  When he arrived at the property, he recovered one .22 Hornet bullet.  Later in October, the landowner called Haley to report three men were trespassing on his property. Investigation of the incident by Haley determined that Steve Herman was a suspect in the elk poaching case earlier.

Herrman eluded law enforcement officers for four years by putting false addresses on licenses. In early 2002, Haley searched Herrman’s old apartment near Tie Siding and found several packages of elk meat in a freezer. The meat was tested and found to be from three separate elk, but did not match the elk that was poached in September. Haley also found several rounds of .22 Hornet ammunition and 7mm ammunition.

Continuing his investigation and search for Herman, Haley got a break in January 2005.  He received a call about for men who were hunting and known to be trespassing on private property. The Wyoming Highway Patrol was notified and when Haley arrived at the Sportsman’s Creek Road, five troopers had four men with four elk stopped.  One of them was Herrman.  Haley issued Herrman the trespassing ticket for the October 2001 charge, but Herrman made no mention of the elk poaching.

As part of Colorado’s investigation into the poaching of the four elk (the elk were killed in Colorado and brought into Wyoming), Haley stated a federal agent and Colorado Game Warden went to Boone County, Kentucky, to interview Herrman who was facing charges there.  Several firearms were confiscated, including a .22 Hornet rifle.  The rifle and bullet he recovered in 2001 were sent to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service forensic lab in Ashton, Oregon and was matched to the bullet in Herrman’s rifle.

Later in 2005 Haley interviewed Herrman in the Fort Collins’ detention center and Herrman told him he had shot one elk and confessed to shooting another elk on the same property about two weeks later, also in September 2001.  Haley had to wait until Colorado had completed their case against Herrman and Herrman was then transported to the Sterling facility before Wyoming could begin their case against him.

Herrman who listed his home as Union, Kentucky on his Circuit Court document, made his initial appearance Thursday, August 10th in Circuit Court and returned to court Friday morning, entering guilty pleas on two counts of taking a game animal without a license and two counts of trespassing to hunt. Herrman admitted that he did not have a license.  He stated that he had been unemployed for about a month and shot he elk for meat, giving some of the meat to friends who were also out of work.

Judge Castor fined Herrman $10,000 plus $30 court costs for the two poaching charges, plus one year in the Albany County Detention Center for each count.  On the trespassing charges, Judge Castor fined Herman $600 each, $30 court costs and six months in the Albany County Detention Center for a total fine with court costs of $231,320 and three years incarceration. The jail sentence was suspended and Herrman was ordered to complete three years unsupervised probation.  He was also ordered t pay $12,000 restitution to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department for illegally taking a big game animal.  His privileges to hunt, fish and trap in Wyoming were revoked for his lifetime.

Following his initial appearance on Thursday, Judge Castor stated the court was informed that Herrman had some outstanding citations.  Herrman entered guilty please on driving under suspension and without a valid registration. He was fined $30 court costs for each count and 20 days in the Albany County Detention Center with credit for time served.  Judge Castor said the rest of the sentence would be suspended when Herrman is transported back to Colorado.  The $180 fine that had not been paid for the earlier trespassing to hunt charge will be served in the detention center at the rate of $15 per day.

Haley explained that the five-year case actually originated from two separate investigations – one for the elk that was poached and one for a false oath investigation, both of which led him to Herrman.  He added that without the network and cooperation of all the agencies involved, Colorado Game and Fish, Kentucky Game and Fish, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Wyoming Game and Fish, the case would not have been made.

Reference:

Laramie Boomerang