A college instructor from Great Bend served a 20-day jail sentence in Alaska in July, but his status as a department head with Barton County Community College will not change, authorities said.

After a plea bargain, Ted T. Gardner , 47, pleaded no contest on June 28 to operating an illegal guide service in Alaska and to falsifying a bear certificate needed to transport the game out of the state, said Alaska Trial Court Clerk Ann Lowe, in Wrangell, Alaska.

Gardner is chairman of the Humanities Department at Barton County Community College, where he has been an English instructor since 1977.

"Mr. Gardner's position at the college will not change," said BCCC spokesman Dick Wade, after checking Friday with the college's president, Jim Downing.

Gardner was in meetings all day Friday at the college, Wade said.

The charges against Gardner, all misdemeanors, were filed and prosecuted in the court by the Alaska Attorney General's Office, Ms. Lowe said.

Gardner's son, Teddy A. Gardner, 23, also pleaded no contest to guiding without a license.

The elder Gardner was fined $30,000, with $24,000 of it suspended in lieu of five years' probation; he was sentenced to 120 days in jail, but 90 days of that was suspended. He also was ordered to pay $6,000 restitution, making a combined fine and restitution order of $12,000. His equipment was seized and kept by the state of Alaska; the gear included two fishing boats, motors, tents and camping equipment.

Gardner reported to the Alaska State Correctional Center, Anchorage, on July 5 to serve his sentence. Under the terms of the state's prison policy, he was required to serve only 20 days as long as he didn't misbehave while serving it. He also qualified, because of no history of violent crime, to serve his 20 days in a halfway house, said Sgt. Tara Martinson, at the state correctional center.

After processing at the prison on July 5, he was transferred to the Cordova Center halfway house in Anchorage the same day, where he served his time, the officer said.

The younger Gardner was found guilty of guiding without a license and was fined $10,000, with $8,000 of it suspended, and sentenced to 120 days, with all of the jail time suspended.

Both Gardners were placed on five years' probation and are forbidden to apply for Alaskan permits to fish, hunt, trap or guide during that time period, court officials said.

The Gardners for years had taken parties of hunters to Alaska on trips booked through their company, Gardner's Outdoor Adventures Inc., said Richard Harrold, Chief of Special Operations, Law Enforcement Division, Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks.

An undercover officer from out of state, directed by Kansas and Alaskan wildlife officials, in 1989 contacted Gardner and arranged to join one of his Alaskan bear hunts. During that trip, the officer gathered evidence against the Gardners, Harrold said.

Only Alaska residents are allowed to be licensed guides there; the Gardners worked as guides, anyway, he said, competing with the local guides for business. The bear certificate was among a number of documents falsified by the Gardners; some charges were dropped in the plea agreement, Harrold said.

Reference:

Anchorage Daily News

The Hutchinson News