Ohio Division of Wildlife officials placed on leave, following indictments
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The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has placed six officials from the ODNR Division of Wildlife on administrative leave after they were indicted April 5 by a Brown County grand jury on charges ranging from tampering with records to obstructing justice.
The charges resulted from the 2006 sale of a resident Ohio hunting license to a non-resident wildlife officer from South Carolina, according to The Plain Dealer. The newspaper reported that Brown County wildlife officer Allan Wright was charged with illegally allowing Eric Vaughn of South Carolina to use Wright's home address to purchase an Ohio hunting license, reducing the license cost from $125 to $19.
Wright reportedly received a verbal reprimand by officials of the Division of Wildlife when he should have been charged with falsification of records. Wildlife officials indicted in what has been called a cover-up of the license sale were Chief David Graham, Assistant Chief Randy Miller, law enforcement administrator James Lehman, District 5 Manager Todd Haines and human resources administrator Michele Ward-Tackett.
Each was indicted on one count of obstructing justice and one count of complicity to obstruct justice. Wright was indicted on two counts of tampering with records and one count of falsification. Deputy Chief Jim Marshall has been appointed acting chief of the wildlife agency.[[In-content Ad]]
The charges resulted from the 2006 sale of a resident Ohio hunting license to a non-resident wildlife officer from South Carolina, according to The Plain Dealer. The newspaper reported that Brown County wildlife officer Allan Wright was charged with illegally allowing Eric Vaughn of South Carolina to use Wright's home address to purchase an Ohio hunting license, reducing the license cost from $125 to $19.
Wright reportedly received a verbal reprimand by officials of the Division of Wildlife when he should have been charged with falsification of records. Wildlife officials indicted in what has been called a cover-up of the license sale were Chief David Graham, Assistant Chief Randy Miller, law enforcement administrator James Lehman, District 5 Manager Todd Haines and human resources administrator Michele Ward-Tackett.
Each was indicted on one count of obstructing justice and one count of complicity to obstruct justice. Wright was indicted on two counts of tampering with records and one count of falsification. Deputy Chief Jim Marshall has been appointed acting chief of the wildlife agency.[[In-content Ad]]