Georgia authorities have arrested eight people and charged them with illegal hunting in Operation Something Bruin, a four-year investigation of bear poaching and other illicit hunting activities in Georgia and North Carolina.
The arrests began Tuesday and ended Thursday, according to the State Department of Natural Resources. The agency cooperated with officials in North Carolina, as well as federal law enforcement authorities, in the undercover operation.
By Friday, police in both states had arrested more than 90 people.
In Georgia, authorities arrested a father and son, Walt Stancil, 65, and Cale Stancil, 40, both of Rabun Gap. Police also arrested Jerry Francis Parker, 61, of Rabun Gap; Rondal Westmoreland, 65, of Cleveland; Edsel Brent Thomas, 39, of Cleveland; Cynthia Parker Clanton, 43, of Hoschton; George Stone, 43, of Crawfordville; and Jack Lloyd Billingsley, 69, of Scaly Mountain, N.C.
The suspects are charged with more 140 offenses ranging from baiting hunting sites to littering. Each violation is a misdemeanor with a maximum $1,000 fine and a year in jail. Federal charges are possible, too.
Thomas faces more than 100 charges. Investigators allege he poached in counties across North Georgia, as well as in Taliaferro County, 75 miles east of Atlanta.
“He’s a poaching machine,” said Col. Eddie Henderson, chief of law enforcement for DNR’s Wildlife Resources Division.
All but Stone had bonded out of jail by Friday, state officials said.
North Carolina authorities continued rounding up suspects on Friday, said Geoff Cantrell, a spokesman for the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission. They had arrested more than 80 people, charging them with misdemeanors as well as felonies, he said.
“We’re continuing our interviews,” Cantrell said. “We’re developing more cases.”
Operation Something Bruin began in 2009 and focused on alleged illegal hunting on private, state and federal lands. Investigators said poachers baited sites with chocolate, peanut butter and honey buns to lure bears within easy range, hunted out of season, fired from vehicles and other offenses.
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