September 9, 2004
'Serial poacher' gets two years in prison
By KATHLEEN A. SCHULTZ, Great Falls Tribune
A lifelong poacher who claims to be "addicted to wildlife" was sentenced Wednesday to five years with the Department of Corrections, three suspended, and ordered to pay more than $18,000 in fines and restitution.
This is the third felony conviction for Gary Roger Motarie, 41, 524? 21st Ave. N.E., who agreed earlier this year to plead guilty to possessing unlawfully taken wildlife.
In exchange for his guilty plea, the state dropped 14 other misdemeanors and declined to label him a persistent felony offender.
Motarie, a paralegal who also has a lengthy misdemeanor history of illegal hunting and fishing (prompting one warden to dub him a "serial poacher"), took the stand Wednesday and blamed that history on a compulsion he said began in his childhood.
"I have a wildlife addiction," Motarie told District Judge Julie Macek. "I feel my wildlife addiction is like a drug addict, with drugs," he said.
Motarie said he is being counseled for his alleged illness, but Deputy Cascade County Attorney Marty Judnich was quick to point out that Motarie's therapist refused to testify on his behalf.
It's not an addiction, "it's pure greed," Judnich said. "He likes poaching. That's why his counselor's not here to testify for him."
He also pointed out that Motarie's compunction appears to be selective -- he only poaches the best animals in the state's most restricted areas.
"In the hunting world, he commits the biggest offense you can," the prosecutor said.
A few minutes later, Motarie vehemently protested Judnich's request that he forfeit all his game mounts and related items.
Despite his claim that he is "making a real effort to quit," "is finding other activities to do" and is "learning to enjoy (himself) without hunting," Motarie told Macek he believed he "deserved" to keep anything he said was legally taken.
Macek said that, according to statute, she didn't think she could force Motarie to forfeit anything the state couldn't prove was ill-gotten.
And although Judnich had requested she levy a $35,000 fine, Macek reluctantly ruled that the law prevented her from fining Motarie more than he could pay back during the term of his sentence.
Given his financial situation -- Motarie said he has more than $80,000 in debt -- Macek set the fine at $15,000. As an "incentive" for him to stay out of trouble with the law for the next six years, she suspended $5,000 of that.
The $3,100 in restitution Motarie must pay will go to the state department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks, as will the game mounts. The forfeitures will be used for public education and to fund the (800) TIP-MONT anti-poaching hotline.
Motarie also was sentenced Wednesday to six months, suspended, for improper transfer of a hunting license and for hunting while his privileges were revoked.
That extra year will run consecutively to the five-year DOC commitment, and to another Glacier County sentence he is serving. All told, Motarie will be under the department's supervision for at least the next 12 years.
How Motarie will serve the two years of Macek's sentence that were not suspended -- in prerelease, under intensive supervision or in prison -- will be up to DOC officials.
Or it may become a moot point, at least for a while:
In November 2002, Motarie killed a trophy elk in the Sun River Wildlife Management Area northwest of Augusta. The Cut Bank newspaper ran a photo of him with the animal, and local residents turned him in.
He was fined $8,000 for killing a trophy animal, ordered to pay $1,000 in restitution and lost his hunting privileges for 20 years.
But before he decided to plead guilty, Motarie threatened a witness and a game warden slated to testify against him. In January 2003, he was sentenced to two concurrent six-year terms in Montana State Prison, all time suspended, for witness tampering and intimidation.
Wednesday's conviction is likely to trigger a revocation of that suspension, which means Motarie could be ordered to serve his six years in Deer Lodge.
A hearing on the matter will be held Sept. 22, Glacier County Attorney Larry Epstein said Wednesday.
Motarie's recent troubles began on Feb. 28, when Fish, Wildlife & Parks Warden Bryan Golie spotted him and a friend illegally night-fishing the Missouri, near Cascade.
In March, Justice of the Peace Sam Harris took a look at his record, then took away Motarie's hunting and fishing rights for life, fined him $2,500 and sentenced him to three concurrent six-month jail terms for fishing while revoked, unlawful possession of brown trout and fishing with four poles in a one-pole area, all misdemeanors.
But after his arrest, Motarie's fishing buddy, Brett McMurphey, told game officials that Motarie had used his wife's license to shoot a bear, an elk and three deer during the 2003 hunting season, and had still had the meat and mounts to prove it.
A search of Motarie's Cut Bank home led to the District Court charges.
Because of his cooperation, McMurphey was given a deferred prosecution. He stayed out of trouble for six months, so his two misdemeanor charges were dismissed in April.
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THERE ARE SERIAL POACHERS AND SERIAL DRUNK DRIVERS.
SOME PEOPLE WILL NEVER LEARN. NO MATTER WHAT THE PUNISHMENT.
$50,000 HAS THE SAME VALUE AS $500 TO SOME MEN.
I don't believe a man should be locked away for years over a mistake like shooting a deer, driving drunk or shooting from a road.
99% of people who just end up in court with a wildlife violation will learn and never do it again. 1% will never stop.
I don't know any poachers but I know a couple peaple ~
One spent 2 YEARS in the joint for stealing a used engine out of a junk yard when he was 19. (2YEARS!) He is now ##### up for life I'm afraid.
One is sitting in jail right now for having sex with a miner, (not rape) he is looking at 5 to 10 years. He has always been a dumb ass, but wouldn't hurt a flee (IS 5 YEARS IN THE BIG HOUSE GOING TO HELP ANYTHING????)))
Both of these guys would of learned very well with a week of comunity service and a $500 fine.
Our Prisons are overflowing with criminals. We just can't seem to lock people away for long enough.
This poacher in NM to get this lite of a punishment must of really convinced the judge that it was truly a one time mistake and it would not happen again. From what I read I do believe justice was done. Does everyone with a "taking a deer out of season" need a $5000 fine and no hunting for 6 years and a week or two in jail? A few really do and some a week of community service would fix them right up big time.
It's sad a big deer got poached. Poaching will always be. More Big deer get hit on the highway, people drive to fast, thats sad. Even more big deer die from winter kill, there is not enough winter range, thats even more sad.
I respect everyone's opinion, even BOBCAT's
I find myself going back and forth. Putting myself in the shoes of the guy getting charged I try to seek a punishment that would stop me from breaking the law again, just the humilieation of going to court would stop me personally of breaking any law I can think of.
I had run in's with some very cocky game wardens, the ones who should not be in law inforcement. I had run in's with some very nice and fair game wardens. I travel half way across the state to hunt an area that the "good guys" patrol. I don't want to hunt the area close to home with good game,just because of the local game warden has a reputation of being such a prick. Thats sad.
That's probably the reason for my bitter tone in the thread and also I'm bored as hell this time a year.
WB
