Four men from Point Hope have been charged with wasteful subsistence taking and wasteful taking through harassment of marine mammals. Federal prosecutors filed the charges based on an incident that occurred last year when the four native hunters allegedly removed the animals’ ivory tusks and left the meat to waste.
Stephen Cooper is an assistant U.S. attorney from Fairbanks working on this case. He explains the difference between the three counts of wasteful subsistence taking and the two counts of wasteful taking through harassment.
“The difference being that the first three counts mentioned a charge or crime of actually killing a walrus, that is, shooting them and taking the tusks and leaving the rest. And then the other two counts are wasteful taking through disturbing a herd in a manner that causes the herd to stampede and then that results in the death by trampling of some of them, individual walrus in the herd,” explained Cooper.
All five charges were believed to have occurred on September 2nd and 4th of 2015 at the walrus haulout beach on Cape Lisburne, during which the four accused men were hunting with guns.
Cooper says if these men are found guilty, the penalty could include jail time and a sizable fine.
“Of course, you know,” said Cooper, “the maximum isn’t what’s going to be necessarily imposed in any particular case, it’s what the maximum could be imposed and that maximum is the same one for all five of these counts. Each count has a maximum penalty of one-year imprisonment, a one-hundred-thousand dollar fine, and a $25 special assessment, which is a mandatory payment per count.”
Cooper has dealt with wasteful subsistence take cases before and says they happen every so often within the State court system.
The four men charged are Adam Thomas Sage, Michael Ricky Tuzroyluk, Jr., Guy Stephen Tuzroyluk, and Jacob John Peel Lane. A court date has not yet been given to determine when their case will go to trial.
