Poaching group leader gets 13 months in prison
Mick Gordon poses with slain cougar By Dan Tilkin and KATU Web StaffCATHLAMET, Wash. – The man considered the ringleader of a group of poachers who called themselves the "Kill 'Em All Boys" was sentenced to a year and a month in prison Monday for illegally killing wildlife. Mick Gordon, pictured below, pleaded guilty to charges of first-degree animal cruelty, hunting black bear, cougar, bobcat and lynx with dogs, second-degree criminal trespass and third-degree malicious mischief.
Undercover officers infiltrated the group as part of the investigation. Later wildlife officers seized trophy heads and guns from Gordon's garage. Gordon, a registered nurse, was also accused of torturing one of his hunting dogs with a shock collar as well as not giving it care for porcupine wounds; the dog eventually died. Prosecutors on Monday asked for an exceptionally long sentence, saying Gordon had "run amok." "I'm deeply sorry for what I've done," Gordon told the judge. "It'll never happen again" Judge Michael J. Sullivan called Gordon an aberration. "When I look at you and what you've done here, which seems to be a highly organized crime spree, I just don't know how to put those two together," the judge said. The sentence was much stiffer than normal. In other recent animal cruelty cases, defendants received sentences of about 3.2 months on average. Washington state officials have also suspended Gordon's nursing license. According to state health department documents, Gordon told an undercover officer he put a shock collar on a child's neck, turned it to its highest setting and shocked the child. He also told the officer he despised his bed-ridden, elderly patients. |
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Washington Fish and Wildlife officers said the group used a device they called "the permission slip," which is a metal bar used to break locks blocking access to prime poaching territory on timber company lands. They even had a videotape made of the bar in use because they wanted to sell the contraption on eBay.
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