'Largest single case State Police has investigated regarding poaching'

SPRINGFIELD, Ore. - Nine people face a charge of racketeering and over 100 counts of identity theft, fraud and hunting crimes after prosecutors took the results of a 15-month investigation to a grand jury.

Racketeering is a felony in Oregon punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Identity theft is a felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison.

"This is the largest single case the State Police has investigated regarding poaching," said Sgt. Ron Martin with Oregon State Police.

"A lot of the animals are What we would consider trophy class animals," Martin said. "There was more trophy class animals than an average hunter would get in a lifetime."

Martin said the nine are accused of taking part in a large scale poaching scheme to take deer and elk on federal lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and Weyerhauser property east of Springfield in the McKenzie Wildlife area.

"Basically what these people have done is stolen the opportunity from a lot of lawfully licensed hunters to have an opportunity to pursue these animals," Martin said, "so in a sense they are stealing from the public."

Troopers from the Springfield, Albany, Bend, Oakridge, Florence and Roseburg offices completed a 15-month investigation into unlawful hunting activities that led this month to the indictment of nine people by a Lane County Grand Jury. 

All nine suspects appeared Thursday for arraignment on the charges in Lane County. Additional charges may be still be pending in both Lane and Harney counties.

The investigation led by Trooper Marc Boyd of the Oregon State Police Springfield Area Command office alleges a long criminal conspiracy involving the illegal harvest of approximately 300 deer in the McKenzie wildlife management unit over the last five years. 

Search warrants served at three separate locations during January 2011 in both Springfield and Eugene led to the seizure of 18 hunting rifles, 108 sets of antlers, timber company keys, numerous hunting licenses and tags, approximately 1,600 pounds of processed wild game meat, and two whole unlawfully taken cow elk.

A break in the case came when one of the victims of identification theft received an Oregon Department of Fish and Game big game tooth envelope in the U.S. mail and contacted the ODFW to advise them of their mistake.

"An individual came into the office with a tooth envelope they had received in the mail," Martin said, "and they had not purchased a license so they went to the ODFW office to explain their mistake."

"The information came to my office basically as an indentity theft issue and then we proceeded on from there," Martin said. "We started researching different databases and learning that multiple people had licenses that had not actually purchased them."
 

Police said the offenses occurred during 2009 and 2010. The wildlife believed to have been unlawfully taken and/or possessed were elk, antelope and bear, although primarily Black tail deer. 

Many of the deer were taken to fill tags for people who either do not hunt or who had their identification stolen for the purpose of illegally obtaining hunting licenses and tags in their name, police said.

The suspects charged as a result of the investigation are:
 
Shane Edwin Donoho, 37, from Springfield
- Identity Theft (5 counts)
- Unlawful Take of Big Game (5 counts)
- Unlawful Possession of Game Mammal
- Unlawful Possession of Big Game Parts (50 counts)
- Forgery in the Second Degree
- Computer Crime (6 counts)
- Unlawful Hunting Cow Elk
- Racketeering
 
Rory Edwin Donoho, 60, from Springfield
- Unlawful Loaning of Big Game Tag
- Unlawful Borrowing of Hunting Tag (3 counts)
- Identity Theft (2 counts)
- Unlawful Take Antlerless Deer
- Unlawful Possession of Big Game Parts (50 counts)
- Racketeering
 
Gerald Stanton Donoho, 64, from Springfield
- Unlawful Hunting Cow Elk
- Unlawful Possession of Bear Meat
- Racketeering
 
Laura Ann Donoho, 36, from Springfield
- Unlawful Loaning or Transfer of Hunting Tag
- Attempted Unlawful Loaning of Hunting Tag
- Unlawful Take of Antlerless Deer
- Racketeering

Sandra Lee Shaffer, 59, from Springfield
- Unlawful Possession of Antlerless Deer
- Attempted Unlawful Loaning or Transfer of Hunting Tag
- Racketeering

Danny Michael Hawkins, 60, from Springfield
- Unlawful Loaning or Transfer of Hunting Tag (3 counts)
- Racketeering

Miguel Angel Kennedy, 26, from Springfield
- Identity Theft (4 counts)
- Forgery in the Second Degree (2 counts)
- Unlawful Loaning or Transfer of Hunting Tag
- Racketeering
 
Mary S. Normand, 61, from Springfield
- Unlawful Loaning or Transfer of Hunting Tag (2 counts)
- Racketeering

Shawn Stone, 48, from Springfield
- Unlawful Borrowing of Big Game Tag (2 counts)
- Unlawful Take of Cow Elk
- Racketeering

The above mentioned crimes are punishable by the following penalties:

• All wildlife offenses are a class A misdemeanor and punishable by up to one year in jail and $6250.00 in fines for each count.
   
• Racketeering is a class A felony punishable by up to twenty years in jail and $375,000.00 in fines for each count.
   
• Identification Theft is a class C felony punishable by up to five years in jail and $125,000.00 in fines for each count.
   
• Forgery in the Second Degree is a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and $6250.00 in fines for each count.
   
• Computer Crime in this case is a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and $6250.00 in fines.
   
• "Attempted" wildlife offenses are B misdemeanors punishable by up to 6 months in jail and $2500.00 in fines for each count.
   
• Restitution may be pursued for the unlawfully taken/possessed game mammals and other actions as provided by law. Each antelope, deer and bear have a value of $800.00, each elk $1500.00.  Enhanced restitution amounts for deer with at least four points on one antler is $7500.00 and each elk with at least 6 points on one antler is $15,000.00.

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