April 20, 2012
By Casey Grove, Anchorage Daily News
An Anchorage-based hunting guide accused of illegally shooting moose, leaving them to rot and then using their carcasses as bait for his clients’ brown bear hunts is facing new charges in federal court.
An Anchorage-based hunting guide accused of illegally shooting moose, leaving them to rot and then using their carcasses as bait for his clients’ brown bear hunts is facing new charges in federal court.
Fred Sims, 48, was charged in state Superior Court in 2010 with 31 misdemeanor counts, including killing moose out of season, shooting them the same day he flew in an airplane, leaving the meat to waste, and using the meat as bait, according to court records. The state case is still pending.
Sims now faces two felony counts in federal court for profiting twice — once in 2007 and again in 2009 — when he allegedly guided clients who shot brown bears that were attracted to the rotting moose meat, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Sims was looking at a minimum seven days in jail and a $250,000 fine in the state case. He now faces the possibility, if convicted, of a maximum 10 years in federal prison and a $500,000 fine. And the federal authorities want to seize Sims’ airplane, a Piper Super Cub.