roger23
10-26-2007, 07:59 AM
:lol::lol::lol:Pair convicted, fined in steelhead poaching case
Two men have been convicted for poaching steelhead trout after they decided to post a video of their illegal activities on the popular YouTube Web site.
Phillipe Jullien, 25, a resident of France, and Joseph Iacobucci, 57, of Gates Mills, were found guilty by Judge Mary Kaye Bozza in Lyndhurst, Ohio, Municipal Court of poaching steelhead from a tributary of the Chagrin River in Cuyahoga County, east of Cleveland, the Ohio Division of Wildlife said.
Jullien was charged with two counts of taking steelhead with the use of a net and one count of fishing without a license. He has returned to France, but was found guilty in absentia in a plea bargain through an attorney. Judge Bozza fined him $250 with $50 suspended on terms of good behavior.
Iacobucci was charged with aiding Jullien in the unlawful taking of steelhead and was fined $250.
Both men also received 30-day suspended jail sentences.
A home video of the illegal activity, dating to September, 2006, was posted on the YouTube Web site. Some viewers reported it to the Ohio Division of Wildlife.
"We got notified by someone who picked it up on YouTube," said Doug Miller, law enforcement supervisor for Ohio Wildlife District 3 at Akron. He explained the whole case took a while to develop.
The video the men shot even showed a caption identifying the Chagrin River and Gates Mills, the men even calling one another by their first names, Miller said.
The lawman added that Jullien was shown snatching one steelhead by hand then dipping more by net, the latter being illegal, while Iacobucci assisted.
The video went on to show men pretending to do CPR on a steelhead, one of them wielding a stethoscope, which implied involvement of a medical professional.
Wildlife investigators, searching the Ohio State Medical Board directory, eventually tracked down a physician on whose property the poaching occurred. The physician was not charged in the case, Miller said.
It took a while to make contact with the suspects, Miller said, "[but] we found out who it was." Broadcasting the video tale on a Cleveland TV station also helped develop leads.
The wildlife supervisor added that Jullien had posted a photograph of his Jeep on YouTube - complete with its license plate. "That was pretty much a no-brainer."
Indeed, in more ways than one.
•
Two men have been convicted for poaching steelhead trout after they decided to post a video of their illegal activities on the popular YouTube Web site.
Phillipe Jullien, 25, a resident of France, and Joseph Iacobucci, 57, of Gates Mills, were found guilty by Judge Mary Kaye Bozza in Lyndhurst, Ohio, Municipal Court of poaching steelhead from a tributary of the Chagrin River in Cuyahoga County, east of Cleveland, the Ohio Division of Wildlife said.
Jullien was charged with two counts of taking steelhead with the use of a net and one count of fishing without a license. He has returned to France, but was found guilty in absentia in a plea bargain through an attorney. Judge Bozza fined him $250 with $50 suspended on terms of good behavior.
Iacobucci was charged with aiding Jullien in the unlawful taking of steelhead and was fined $250.
Both men also received 30-day suspended jail sentences.
A home video of the illegal activity, dating to September, 2006, was posted on the YouTube Web site. Some viewers reported it to the Ohio Division of Wildlife.
"We got notified by someone who picked it up on YouTube," said Doug Miller, law enforcement supervisor for Ohio Wildlife District 3 at Akron. He explained the whole case took a while to develop.
The video the men shot even showed a caption identifying the Chagrin River and Gates Mills, the men even calling one another by their first names, Miller said.
The lawman added that Jullien was shown snatching one steelhead by hand then dipping more by net, the latter being illegal, while Iacobucci assisted.
The video went on to show men pretending to do CPR on a steelhead, one of them wielding a stethoscope, which implied involvement of a medical professional.
Wildlife investigators, searching the Ohio State Medical Board directory, eventually tracked down a physician on whose property the poaching occurred. The physician was not charged in the case, Miller said.
It took a while to make contact with the suspects, Miller said, "[but] we found out who it was." Broadcasting the video tale on a Cleveland TV station also helped develop leads.
The wildlife supervisor added that Jullien had posted a photograph of his Jeep on YouTube - complete with its license plate. "That was pretty much a no-brainer."
Indeed, in more ways than one.
•