June 27, 2017
From HibbingMN.com
DULUTH — Douglas Anthony Marana, 70, admitted to his role in what authorities said was one of the state’s largest trapping cases on record.
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources officials said in March that they seized 638 snares illegally set by Marana and 68-year-old Roderick Robert Kottom during a two-year investigation.
Marana entered the pleas to a gross misdemeanor charge of illegally taking or possessing pine marten, otter, fisher or wolverine; misdemeanor counts of failure to check snares daily and using snares larger than permitted; and a petty misdemeanor charge of using untagged traps or snares.
Senior Judge Peter Albrecht sentenced Marana to 120 days in jail, but stayed the term for two years of unsupervised probation. He was fined $1,260, ordered to contribute to joint restitution of $1,240 and must avoid any same or similar offenses.
Officers seized 17 foxes, two fishers, five snowshoe hares and one deer illegally trapped on the trap lines, according to the complaint.