Two North Mississippi men, including one from Tate County, have been sentenced to a year of probation and ordered to pay a total of $30,000 in fines and restitution for illegally killing a white-tailed deer in Tennessee and transporting the deer across state lines to Mississippi.
According to court documents, Heath Thomas Harris, 42, of Senatobia, and Christopher Lee Jones, 42, of Hernando, each pleaded guilty to one count of infringement of the Lacey Act for killing a white-tailed deer in violation of state law and transporting it across state lines.
A report from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Office states Harris and Jones killed a white-tailed deer in December 2019 on property located west of Tchulahoma Road and north of Jackson Pit Road in Memphis violating various Tennessee laws in the process, including hunting in the state without a license.
After killing the deer illegally in Tennessee, Jones and Harris transported the deer into Mississippi in violation of the Lacey Act, according to the report. The Lacey Act of 1900 is a United States conservation law prohibiting trade in wildlife, fish, and plants that have been illegally taken, possessed, transported, or sold.
Harris and Jones were each ordered Tuesday, July 25, to pay a fine in the amount of $1,000, restitution to the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency for $9,185 and fines payable to the Lacey Act Rewards Account for $4,875 and forfeit the deer’s antlers to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Additionally, each defendant was placed on probation for a period of one year, during which time they will be prohibited from hunting anywhere in the world as a condition of their probation.
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement is committed to conducting criminal investigations with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency to conserve, protect, and enhance fish, wildlife, plants and their habitats,” said Stephen Clark, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement Special Agent in Charge. “The Office of Law Enforcement takes violations of the Lacey Act seriously. This multi-year investigation involving the two defendants responsible for the unlawful harvest and subsequent transportation in interstate commerce of a white-tailed deer from Tennessee to Mississippi is no exception. We will continue to work closely with our state partners to conduct these important joint investigations.”
This case was investigated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency, and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service encourages members of the public to report allegations of wildlife crimes to the Service’s Office of Law Enforcement via the Wildlife Crime Tips page at https://www.fws.gov/wildlife-crime-tips or via phone at 1-844-FWS-TIPS (1-844-397-8477).
