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For the 12th time in 10 years, Timothy James Tull, 31, of Crisfield, Md., has been convicted of a hunting-related offense, according to Mike Weaver of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Cambridge.
The guilty verdict, this time for illegal waterfowl hunting, was handed down May 2 after a two-day trial in U.S. District Court in Baltimore. Tull has 11 prior convictions since 1990 ranging from other waterfowl offenses to boating and crabbing illegally, taking deer out of season, shooting from a vehicle, and trespassing for the purpose of hunting.
Tull faces a maximum penalty of $15,000, six months in prison, and revocation of hunting privileges for up to five years. The sentencing will be in September, Weaver said.
In the current offense, Tull was charged with a Migratory Bird Treaty Act violation on March 27, 1999, when he had in his possession freshly killed waterfowl, including a hooded merganser, a black duck and parts of two more black ducks, according to Weaver. The Maryland waterfowl season had closed two months earlier.
The case was investigated by Maryland Natural Resources Police and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement agents. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Cunningham. U.S. Magistrate Daniel E. Klein was the presiding judge.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses more than 520 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fish and wildlife management assistance offices, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
Uploaded: 5/11/2000
Uploaded: 5/11/2000