California F&W find man who killed 159 birds (hawks, harriers, flickers)

[Beringia]

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/05/28/159-murdered-birds-heres-how-wildlife-crime-sleuths-solved-one-of-californias-most-baffling-poaching-cases/


Richard Parker pled guilty to illegal taking of birds after an investigation by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife found the defendant shot hawks and other birds on his ranch in Lassen County.










Careful detective work by a team of state game wardens and Goddard’s team linked the deaths of 159 birds to a Lassen County ranch owner, leading to his conviction in April for one of the most baffling poaching cases in state history. Authorities were stunned by the extent of the indiscriminate carnage, which included red-tailed hawks, ferruginous hawks and harriers, but also songbirds such as flickers and magpies and even a great horned owl. The carcasses weren’t collected for sale or to eat but just left to rot, investigators said. “It defied rational explanation,” said Patrick Foy, of the Department of Fish and Wildlife. “We sometimes see people who go on a wildlife-killing rampage.” The investigation started in March 2018 when wildlife officers received an anonymous tip from someone who witnessed a man shooting a hawk near the town of Standish, near Susanville, in the rural northeastern corner of the state. Visiting the site, an investigator discovered several dead raptors within plain view lying in the stubble of fields, said California Department of Fish and Wildlife officer Kyle Kroll. The property owner, Richard Parker, 68, was an immediate suspect — but no one was home.

“We hatched a plan, working as covertly as possible,” said Kroll, who oversees six officers in the vast expanse of Plumas, Lassen and part of Butte counties. Dressed in plain clothes and wielding bird-watching “spotting scopes,” the officers watched the ranch from afar. After witnessing several potential violations, they had probable cause to get a search warrant. A squad of seven officers, with dogs, were quickly deployed to the 80-acre ranch in a remote sagebrush steppe landscape that is famed for its migratory birds. Located in the upper northeast corner of the Northern Sierra Cascade range, where snowmelt drains into the large and shallow Honey Lake, the region is a fertile wetland area, which attracts many diverse species. It was a long and gruesome day.

The Lassen County ranch killings involved almost all raptors: 27 adult and 48 juvenile red-tailed hawks, two Swainson’s hawks, four ferruginous hawks, two Cooper’s hawks, two northern harriers and one prairie falcon. Most are protected under the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act. Parker, an insurance agent who previously served on the Lassen County Chamber of Commerce and graduated from Sacramento State University with a degree in psychology and criminal law, was interviewed and arrested. Parker pled guilty to 10 misdemeanor counts of California Fish and Game Code Section 3513, the illegal taking of birds, and was sentenced to 90 days in county jail and $75,000 in fines and restitution, including $36,000 to reimburse the state’s investigative costs and $20,000 to Lassen County to restore and protect the local raptor population. During five years of probation, he’s prohibited from hunting and fishing and can’t own firearms.

[bullwinkle428]

1. What a sick fuck. I wonder if he had the slightest clue why the

rodent population around his property was steadily rising over the course of his killing spree.

[unc70]

2. He got off light

90 days for all those violations.

[malaise]

3. Is he smiling in that mug shot?

I hate these people

[maxsolomon]

23. That's the new GOP trend

trolling Justice.

[Bayard]

4. No jail time?!

I'd like to see that smirk pecked right off his face.

No reason for this. None, none, NONE!

[Beringia]

7. It says 90 days in county jail

[Stargazer09]

9. Agreed

What a horrible excuse for a human being.

[Anon-C]

5. Interesting local flavor:

http://marycumminsrealestatemarycummins.blogspot.com/2018/03/who-is-richard-parker-who-killed-135.html

[shanti]

30. Upon reading the story

this dude was protecting a pheasant-hunting club ON HIS RANCH, of which he was a member, by baiting and killing the raptors. What a piece of shit.

[Farmer-Rick]

6. He was also killing Bob Cats

That's a stuffed one in the picture, but there was a newly dead one found in his yard.

There are also open investigations of four dead Roosevelt female elk, one of them pregnant, all recently killed with a firearms AND the deaths of three dead pronghorn antelope, left in a field. These dead animals were found in the same county where this poacher was doing his killing.

You know serial murderers start with small animals. They may want to keep an eye on this crazy. He seems to have moved up to larger mammals.

[Beringia]

8. And he had a degree in psychology and criminal law, surely did not deter him

[mopinko]

12. many a sick fuck studies psychology to assure themselves

that they are not sick fucks.

[Paladin]

10. The sick fuck.

I hope all those raptors are waiting for him on the Other Side, with their talons sharpened. Her sure as hell didn't receive the punishment he deserved from California authorities.

[hunter]

11. Clearly, he's a giant rodent who was just protecting his friends.

He probably escaped from some secret genetics lab where they were adding human genes to ground squirrels.

wikipedia

Does he chirp like a ground squirrel when he sees a predator?

[gratuitous]

15. In that case, wouldn't his name be Peter Pettigrew?

Too bad he only got 90 days in the slammer. That's less than one day per poached animal.

[hunter]

31. Hah! I like the Peter Pettigrew theory better than my own.

Living as a rat changes a man.

[Baitball Blogger]

13. You look at him real good. This is the kind of crimes that usually go under the radar.

Kudos to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

[Beringia]

18. Someone posted a link to a blog that mentions someone might have even reported to police

03/16/2018 Richard Parker is VERY well connected in this tiny town. I called the police to get his booking number and they stated it wasn't public information. Yes, it is public information. I told them I had his booking photo, above. They said the booking photo was not public. They said they didn't provide it. Then where did it come from? Fish and Wildlife? The clerk was very snotty on the phone refusing to release any information at all. I called the DA and got the same run around. I bet the DA will refuse to press charges. Maybe they'll even try to negotiate a pre-filing diversion program. If someone had reported the poaching to police, nothing would have happened. In fact someone may have reported it to the police and they did nothing. Thankfully the person reported it to Fish and Wildlife which are state and federal.


http://marycumminsrealestatemarycummins.blogspot.com/2018/03/who-is-richard-parker-who-killed-135.html

[Baitball Blogger]

19. We had creepy good ole boys who controlled

Last edited Tue Jun 4, 2019, 02:09 PM - Edit history (1)

Our county’s public resources. There was talk that they used the sheriff’s helicopter to redirect game for the members of their Boar’s Nest hunt club. The sheriff may have overused those helicopters to respond to the calls from well-connected good buddies in the area, and I think they all overestimated the tolerance of the new growth in the community.

[Beringia]

20. What do you mean "overestimated the tolerance of the new growth"?

[Baitball Blogger]

24. I don't think the sheriff's retirement was just his idea.

[jcgoldie]

14. Wonder who this douchebag voted for president?

Fuckers like this with no respect for the earth or anything or anyone on it all seem connected by that common thread...

[Initech]

16. Future serial killer in training?

[maxsolomon]

21. uh, no. he's already one.

and he hasn't got long - 10 years, with that gut.

[Initech]

25. I was referring to humans, not animals.

Most human serial killers start by taking their frustrations out on animals first. Kind of like a gateway drug.

[maxsolomon]

26. I recognize that these were animals.

He was "protecting" his Pheasant-Hunting club - he was motivated by $ and an anitpathy for regulations.

He's not going to start killing humans. He'll get high-fives everywhere he goes when he's out, for showin' them San Francisco libtards that think they're better'n us Real Americans what's what.

[Tipperary]

17. Awful, but I did get a giggle from the wildlife guy who said "we hatched a plan."

Glad they caught the fucker.

[maxsolomon]

22. WHY WILL HE GET HIS GUNS BACK IN 5 YEARS?

fuck that shit.

[Calculating]

27. Of course he's smiling in the mugshot

Probably because he's proud of all those 'darn liberals' he pissed off. Typical Trump voter.

[Doremus]

28. I'm tired of the slap on the hand these animal abusers usually get.

When are we going to start handing out sentences that match the severity of these crimes against nature?

[Beringia]

29. $75,000 seems a lot, but maybe this guy has some deep pockets

Not to mention, maybe his friends will pitch in.