US Attorney Stephen J. Rapp announced that TIMOTHY KEITH RILEY, age 35, of Beardstown, IL, pled guilty and was sentenced on Nov 1, 1996, to one count of illegal taking and transporting of mussels to Iowa from a state sanctuary in Illinois. RILEY was sentenced to 27 mos. imprisonment, placed on three years supervised release following incarceration, ordered to make restitution of $8,259 and to pay a $50 special assessment. Judge Melloy cited the defendant's extremely lengthy criminal history which included a conviction for burglary committed one month after the mussel offense. It was further ordered that RILEY's sentence would run consecutively to the current state sentence being served for the burglary conviction. RILEY is scheduled for parole on the state burglary charges in February 1999.

The conviction was the result of a joint investigation conducted by the Fish and Wildlife Service; Iowa Dept. of Natural Resources; Illinois Department of Natural Resources; the Bellevue Iowa Police Dept.; the Jackson County, IA Sheriff's Dept.; and the Savannah, IL Police Dept.

Submitted by Walt Kocal, , Des Moines, IA.

UNITED STATES vs. JOHN & ANDY PARTNEY

On September 11, 1996,  DAN BURLESON received an Award for Distinguished Service from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Missouri, as a result of his efforts in the above case.

Based on information he received from MO DOC,  BURLESON made covert contact with JOHN PARTNEY, as an interested real estate buyer.  BURLESON was able to obtain numerous incriminating statements regarding PARTNEY's wildlife violations, as well as observing, first-hand, the hundreds of wildlife mounts, corroborating PARTNEY's statements. When  BURLESON led the execution of a search warrant, over 200 wildlife mounts, 300 turkey beards, and firearms were found. Also found were numerous photographs, video tapes, and two original diaries---all documenting the many wildlife violations committed by the PARTNEYS.

JOHN PARTNEY and his son, ANDY, a college student at Cape Girardeau, MO., were indicted on seven counts and on 08/19/96, the PARTNEYS entered guilty pleas in Federal Court. It is anticipated that JOHN PARTNEY will face a range of punishment of 21-28 mos. and ANDY PARTNEY will face a range of punishment of 6-12 mos., with possible home detention. As a part of the plea agreement, the PARTNEYS have agreed to a lifetime revocation of their hunting privileges in the State of Missouri; forfeiture of all wildlife mounts, and photographs and video tapes which show the unlawfully killed wildlife. THE PARTNEYS further agreed to enter guilty pleas to 41 misdemeanor wildlife violations in Carter Co., MO; fined a total of $20,000 (which was paid the same day); voluntary surrender of 24 firearms worth approximately $20,000; and psychological counseling for ANDY.

Submitted by Jerry Sommers, , Region 3

REPTILE SCHEME IN ORLANDO

WOLFGANG KLOE & SIMON HARRIS were arrested in August after a U.S. Customs Service inspector found 61 Madagascan tree snakes and four rare spider tortoises in their luggage at Orlando International Airport worth approximately $250,000. The two men were sentenced on January 10, 1997, by U.S. District Judge Anne Conway in Orlando. KLOE, 33, an accountant from Rauenber, Germany (considered a key player in the scheme) was sentenced to 46 months in prison and a $10,000 fine; HARRIS, 25 of Blairgowrie, South Africa, will be released from jail in a month, receiving a sentence reduction and three years' probation after cooperating with investigators. Both will likely be returned to their respective countries after their release.

KLOE and HARRIS were charged specifically with importing 51 radiated tortoises, 94 tree boas and 25 spider tortoises, all endangered animals protected from illegal export by international treaty.

Prosecutors have begun extradition proceedings against ENRICO JOSEPH TRUANT of Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Other defendants not yet arraigned include FRANK H. LEHMEYER, ROLANDWERNER and OLAF STROHMANN, all German citizens.

This case was initiated and investigated by  KEN McCLOUD.

Submitted by Robert Jarmuz, , Pleasanton, CA

POSTMASTER AGNES WRIGHT failed to come home from work at the end of the day on June 20, 1996. Her beaten and shot body was found by her daughter who had gone looking for her. Investigators found that a postal money order machine and money orders, as well as cash were missing. After an intensive three-week investigation by the Alaska State Troopers and the U.S. Postal Service, there were no leads. Lack of a major suspect left the residents of the small Alaskan village 200 miles West of Fairbanks, very uneasy. The crimes were similar to ones previously committed in the McGrath/Nenana area by ABRAM WALTER. The only problem was he was thought to have died when his canoe was found below some rapids near the Nixon fork of the Tokatna River.

However, while on patrol, REFUGE MANAGER TOM ELY found that the service cabin on the Nowitna River had been broken into and that a canoe, outboard, Coleman stove and fuel had been stolen. WALTER had previously stolen similar items, thus supporting the theory that he was still alive and had staged his death attempting to avoid previous burglary charges. Three weeks after the murder, Walter was arrested in a stolen car following yet another robbery at a post office in Ester, AK, where he had stolen a second money order machine and money orders.

In order to tie WALTER with the AGNES WRIGHT murder, the investigators needed to find the first postal machine which WALTER claimed sank in a canoe on the Yukon River. Despite boat attempts by the Fairbanks SRA Office and a 6-hour air search by  CORKY ROBERTS, they were not successful in locating the canoe.

WALTER's hidden camp in the hills a mile up river from Ruby was found and searched by the Alaska State Troopers and Inspectors. However, they still had not found evidence linking WALTER to the AGNES WRIGHT murder. They did get a major break in the case shortly thereafter when the Yutana Barge Lines in Nenana picked up the abandoned canoe; however, they still lacked the link that would tie WALTER with the Ruby murder. The inspectors decided to do a second search when eyewitnesses mentioned that WALTER had been carrying a briefcase the day of the murder.   ROBERTS, using his skills developed from seven years as a game warden, scanned the area and found the missing evidence in a small clearing on a hill overlooking Ruby.

WALTER is now being held in the Fairbanks Correctional Center on $500,000 bail since his arrest on July 16, 1996. He is facing federal charges for the murder of WRIGHT and the Ruby and Ester post office robberies. ATTORNEY GENERAL JANET RENO will decide if he will face the death penalty for the murder. And as Paul Harvey states...you know the rest of the story.

Submitted by Jerry Cegelske, , Region 7

CASE DISPOSITION OF KIKOLAY V. SENCHENKO

A deer hunter reported to Washington Fish and Wildlife Officer TED HOLDEN his discovery of an elaborate bear trap while hunting in the Kaniksu National Forest in NE Washington during September 1993. FWO HOLDEN periodically monitored the site during the next year. In October 1994, a deer hunter came upon another snare with the carcass of a black bear hanging by its hind foot---this snare was 15 miles north of the first snare and was located within a Grizzly Bear Recovery Zone. The hunter contacted FWO HOLDEN and guided him to the site only to find that the bear carcass had been removed from the snare. They found the bear concealed under some brush with its gall bladder and claws removed.

FWO Holden contacted  ROGER PARKER, USFWS/LE, Spokane, WA, and a joint investigation was undertaken. During the course of the investigation a total of four snares were discovered. All but one showed signs of having trapped bear. Asst. U.S. Attorney Tim Ohms, Spokane, was contacted and it was the consensus that this was a commercial operation for bear parts and possibly a violation of the Endangered Species Act if any grizzly bears were taken. DNA tests at the National Wildlife Forensics Lab later determined that all of the bear parts submitted were black bear.

In September 1995, one of the snares was discovered to have been reset. A stakeout/surveillance by officers from the states of Washington, Idaho, the USFS and USFWS was initiated. On September 28, NIKOLAY SENCHENKO returned to the snare site and reset a snare that had been tripped by the officers, at which time he was arrested. SENCHENKO, an immigrant from the Ukraine, was carrying a SKS assault rifle at the time of his arrest. That same day a Federal search warrant was served at the SENCHENKO residence where considerable physical evidence was seized including 3 gall bladders found in SENCHENKO's briefcase.

After reading an article in a Spokane newspaper about the case, a local hardware clerk reported that SENCHENKO had ordered 500 ft. of 1/8 inch cable---enough cable for 15 to 20 snares. In August 1996, at the conclusion of a three-week trial in U.S. District Court in Spokane, WA, that included testimony of 30 government witnesses, SENCHENKO was found guilty of a felony violation of the Lacey Act and sentenced to serve 90 days in jail and placed on supervised probation for three years.

After a two-week trial in Washington State Court in September, 1996, SENCHENKO was found guilty in a jury trial of 12 misdemeanor counts of state wildlife violations. He was sentenced to one year in jail and assessed fines and civil penalties in excess of $6,000. SENCHENKO stated that he will appeal his convictions in both State and Federal Courts.
Submitted by Roger Parker, , Spokane, WA.

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