June 20, 2008

DES MOINES — A Tennessee man has pled guilty to multiple counts of illegally taking deer and falsifying records to obtain Iowa hunting privileges.

Theodore F. Davis, 44, of Clinton, Tenn., has pled guilty to four counts of illegal possession/take of deer, one count of making false claim for resident license and one count of failure to report harvesting of a deer.

In a plea agreement worked out with assistance from a US Fish & Wildlife agent, Davis agreed to make a $5,000 donation to TIP (Turn In Poachers) of Iowa in addition to liquidated damages of $15,000 and fines of $728. Davis will also lose his hunting privileges for three years in Iowa and all the participating Western Violator Compact States of Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming as well as his home state of Tennessee.

In addition, Roberta Anderson, 57, from Mondamin, Iowa was fined $182 and issued a citation for providing resident deer licenses to a non-resident.

Investigation of Davis began after DNR Conservation Officer David Tierney received information from TIP that the Tennessee man was illegally claiming residence in Iowa to obtain resident deer hunting licenses. The initial investigation of Davis’ license purchasing history indicated he had changed his residency in 2006 from Tennessee to Iowa and had obtained Iowa resident deer licenses in 2006 and 2007.

Davis used the address of Marlyn and Roberta Anderson, of Mondamin, Iowa. Previously Davis was a non-resident obtaining non-resident deer licenses from 2001 through 2005.

In the course of the investigation, it was determined that Davis had tagged deer with Iowa resident deer tags belonging to the Andersons. The Andersons later admitted to having obtained the deer licenses for Davis and that he did not live at their residence as claimed and they would forward his mail to his Tennessee address.

Tierney eventually traveled to Tennessee to interview Davis where he admitted to falsifying records in order to quality for Iowa resident hunting privileges and that he asked the Andersons to purchase Iowa resident bowhunting licenses for deer. Additionally, Davis admitted to illegally killing deer in 2006 and 2007 using tags obtained from the Andersons and others.

US Fish & Wildlife Service agents, wildlife officers from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, officers from the Nebraska Game & Parks and the Harrison County Sheriff’s Department assisted in this investigation.