February 13, 2007 - ASSOCIATED PRESS
Two men face federal charges of harassing deer with an aircraft in
eastern Iowa.
Harry Moeller, 59, of Buckingham, and Steven Risse, 59, of Dysart,
initially were charged by the state after allegedly using powered
parachutes in December 2004 to herd whitetail deer toward hunters on the
ground in Benton County - a practice prohibited under state and federal
law.
The case was passed to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for further
review, and federal charges were filed last month.
If convicted, Moeller and Risse face up to one year in prison, a
$100,000 fine, and up to one year of supervised release, according to
the U.S.
attorney's office. The prosecution also seeks the forfeiture of the
parachute planes.
The state charges, filed in early 2005, included illegal hunting and
pursuing deer with an aircraft. It was not immediately clear Monday if
the men were convicted on the state charges.
Moeller and Risse appeared in federal court Friday in Cedar Rapids
and were released on bond. Their trial begins April 2.
Fair Use Notice: This document may contain copyrighted material
whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owners. We believe
that this not-for-profit, educational use on the Web constitutes
a fair use of the copyrighted material (as provided for in section
107 of the US Copyright Law). If you wish to use this copyrighted
material for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must
obtain permission from the copyright owner.
