August 2, 2011
By J.C. Taylor, QCTimes.com
ALEDO, Ill. – An Aledo man who pleaded guilty to 27 misdemeanor counts in an illegal hunting case has been banned from hunting in Illinois for 15 years.
James Gauley, 24, was charged in March. He originally faced multiple Class 3 and Class 4 felonies, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charges Tuesday in Mercer County Circuit Court under a negotiated plea.
In addition to the hunting ban, Gauley also was placed on probation for 24 months, sentenced to 179 days in jail and fined nearly $14,000, with $10,000 of that going to the Illinois Conservation Foundation.
At the time of his arrest, state conservation officials called it one of the most serious illegal hunting cases in northern Illinois.
Gauley was accused of unlawfully taking deer and other wildlife between December 2008 and January 2011. In total, he was alleged to have illegal possession of 12 deer and other protected species through the two-year period.