www.whitehorsestar.auth.php?.r=46357
By STEPHANIE WADDELL

A Whitehorse man has been ordered to pay $3,500 over six months, is prohibited from hunting in the Yukon for three years and cannot get a special guiding licence in the territory for six years.
Deputy territorial court Judge Jack McGivern made the order on David Odo this morning following a joint submission from Crown prosecutor Lee Kirkpatrick and defence lawyer Keith Parkkari.
Odo pleaded guilty to possessing wildlife killed contrary to the territorial Wildlife Act and providing false information.

Last May, Kirkpatrick noted, in bringing forward the agreed facts, Alberta resident Richard Graves had been scheduled to go on a special guided grizzly hunt in the territory.
When his guide’s mother died just before the hunt, Odo agreed to take him on the trip. They didn’t spot a grizzly at that point.
Then, last May 25, Graves shot a bear with Odo and the guide who had been set to take him out on his original hunt. That hunt, however, was not in a proper subzone where hunting is permitted, the court heard.
Initially, Odo switched the hunting tags to make it appear he shot the bear.
He then switched them back, with he and Graves reporting the kill the next day but stating the animal had been hunted in a proper zone around the Takhini Hot Springs Road.
Odo signed the forms knowing the information was false, Kirkpatrick said.
The false information was discovered by a conservation officer who came across a website showing pictures of the kill. The officer recognized it as being in the Haines Junction area, rather than the Takhini Hot Springs Road, and was able to go find the remains of the carcass, it was noted.
As an aggravating factor, Kirkpatrick pointed out, Odo actively misled officers. That caused an extensive investigation involving the U.S. Secret Service at one point.
His guilty plea though has saved the court the time and money that would have been spent on a trial, she said. Odo had been originally set to go to trial this morning.
While the maximum fine would be $50,000 and up to a year in jail for each of the two offences Odo pleaded guilty to, Kirkpatrick and Parkkari agreed to a sentence of the fine and prohibitions from hunting and guiding.
A further charge against Odo was stayed.