Wdfw.wa.gov/news/attach/sep2112a_01.pdf. Watered Down Justice For Lookout Pack.. Suspect Tom D.
White (Photo Courtesy King5.com and WDFW) For poaching and decimating the first wolf pack to roam Washington State in 70 years, William White and his son and daughter-in-law Tom D. & Erin White of Twisp, Washington are expected to receive no jail time, getting off with probation and fines. They could have faced HUGE fines and jail for killing endangered wolves. They were tripped up when Erin White attempted to FedEx a box dripping blood, which contained a poached wolf pelt from one of the Lookout wolves. (I think it was a pup.)
The Whites should have had the book thrown at them. Washington wolf killer pleads guilty, wife admits role in scheme by GARY CHITTIM / KING 5 News Posted on April 18, 2012 at 4:56 PM Updated Wednesday, Apr 18 at 4:59 PM It started when workers at a private shipping company in Omak discovered a box bound for Canada was bleeding. Tom and his wife Erin agreed to pay $35,000 in fines and both face up to a year in prison when sentenced in July. READ MORE: Twisp man pleads guilty in wolf killing case - Spokesman.com - April 4. A Twisp man pleaded guilty Wednesday to conspiring to kill a protected wolf and send its pelt to a friend in Canada in return for the friend’s help in illegally killing a moose.
Wearing a leather vest and cowboy hat, William D. White, 62, pleaded guilty in federal court to the charges of conspiracy to take an endangered species, conspiracy to transport endangered species and unlawful importation of wildlife. The importation charge stemmed from the moose, which White brought back to the Methow Valley from Canada along with a whitetail deer. As part of the federal plea, White also agreed to plead guilty to two state charges, including hunting bears with a dog. White declined comment after the plea before U.S. “I think the issues point out the inherent difficulties livestock owners are presented with relating to wolves,” Maxey said. UDPATED Bill White Enters Guilty Plea On Federal Wolf Poaching, Other Charges « Northwest Sportsman Magazine.
While Wednesday saw resolution of the William D.
White portion of the Methow Valley wolf poaching case, two more members of the family, William’s son Tom D. White, and Tom’s wife Erin White, are due in Spokane’s federal court in mid-April to make their plea in connection to the illegal killing of two wolves of the Lookout Pack and attempted export of an endangered species. As with William, both originally plead not guilty to the charges, but that could change if yesterday’s settlement — which avoids jail time for William, but also paints him as a serial poacher — is any indication. Joseph Harrington, an assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, had no comment on that possibility. The case was handled in federal court because the wolves involved were (and those still in the area are) listed under the Endangered Species Act. Sentencing for the duo is slated for June, William in July. Wolf world watchers, however, have not been so tight lipped. Lookout wolf poaching photos released.
King 5 has obtained these disturbing photos of Lookout Pack poaching, including Tom White posing with a killed wolf.
You can help our anti-poaching efforts today, so that future photos of Washington's wolves are of them thriving in our shared lands. King 5 has obtained photos from the Lookout wolf poaching case against the White family. These are the first full color images we’ve seen that show Tom White posing with Lookout Pack wolves he killed illegally. It’s so sad that some of the first photos of our pioneering pack in Washington are of their deaths in this manner.
We hope that the federal and state judges will give the Whites the stiff penalties that they deserve, including jail time, and that they lose their hunting privileges for life. Washington wolf killer pleads guilty, wife admits role in scheme. It started when workers at a private shipping company in Omak discovered a box bound for Canada was bleeding.
It ended Wednesday when Twisp rancher Tom White and his wife pleaded guilty to federal felony charges of killing and conspiring to export the pelt of a protected species. White's father William had already pleaded guilty to charges involving the killing of at least two members of the first known wolf pack in Washington State in 70 years. Tom and his wife Erin agreed to pay $35,000 in fines and both face up to a year in prison when sentenced in July. Sources say the pair is more likely to face three years of probation. The three still face State charges in connection with the killings that biologists say set back the Lookout Mountain Pack that was discovered in the Okanogan Valley in 2008. KING 5 has obtained exclusive photos state Fish and Wildlife officers say they recovered from the White's computer and were used as evidence in the federal case.