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December 16, 2004
Feds Uncover Illegal N.M. Hunts
By Jeremy Pawloski, Albuquerque Journal
Two Española men were arrested in raids Wednesday and are accused of participating in illegal elk and wild game hunts organized for tourists from Virginia.
The hunts took place in the Valles Caldera National Preserve and the Gila National Forest, according to federal court records.
Registered guide Jeffrey Clem of Española and Mike Archuleta, owner of Sierra Taxidermy in Española, were each placed under arrest and charged with violating federal wildlife law, officials from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Albuquerque said.
During a raid at Archuleta's taxidermy shop Wednesday morning by officers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state Game and Fish Department, row upon row of elk antlers were seized and lined up near a flatbed truck. At least one stuffed game animal also was hauled away.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathon Gerson said Wednesday that Clem and Archuleta's criminal charges under the federal Lacey Act are basically for "selling illegally taken wildlife."
The U.S. government's theory of prosecution is that Clem and Archuleta went onto the Valles Caldera and other lands and would do "whatever it takes" to get elk for their customers illegally, Gerson said.
Cammie Nichols, a defense attorney representing Archuleta, said Wednesday her client "maintains that he's innocent of these charges." Nichols also said Archuleta's link to illegal activities described in court records is tenuous.
Nichols said that Archuleta is "well-regarded in the community," and that he has been the target of "bitterness" from Game and Fish officials because of a civil settlement he won against the department in the past.
Valles Caldera kills
According to the affidavits for Clem and Archuleta's arrests:
A confidential informant has told federal authorities that he killed an elk and an oryx— an African antelope— without a license during a hunting trip to New Mexico in September 2003. The informant said he paid $2,900 to Clem and a second man not charged in the case in exchange for killing the elk and oryx.
Court records also describe a hunting trip to the Valles Caldera on Sept. 30, 2004.
One man who was on that trip to the Valles Caldera "shot and killed a bull elk that day while being guided by Jeff Clem."
The bull elk was left at the scene, and on Oct. 3, Game and Fish officers "located a recently killed elk carcass on the Valles Caldera Preserve... The antlers and cape had been removed from the carcass."
Game and Fish officers later located a Remington cartridge at the Valles Caldera that is believed to have been used by the hunting party to shoot at a bull elk during the Sept. 30 trip.
Court records also state that Clem and another man have claimed that a bull elk mounted on the wall at Sierra Taxidermy was killed on the Valles Caera.
The Valles Caldera National Preserve provides extremely limited hunting opportunities for sportsmen. Each year it has a drawing for a small number of trophy bull elk hunts. Thousands of hunters from around the nation apply to hunt on acreage boasting the second-largest elk herd in New Mexico.
Mark Birkhauser, hunter education coordinator for Game and Fish, said Wednesday that more charges might come from the investigation that led to Clem and Archuleta's arrests.
Birkhauser said that illegal hunting ruins the work of wildlife officials who try to track and monitor species that are hunted legally in New Mexico.
"The wildlife in New Mexico belongs to the people of New Mexico," Birkhausr said. "So when they kill illegally, they're stealing from the people of New Mexico."
The elk antlers that were seized Wednesday from Sierra Taxidermy had tags on them. But Gerson said, "The mere fact that there were tags on the antlers doesn't mean that they were legally taken."
Tourists' trips
According to the affidavits for Clem and Archuleta's arrest, the illegal hunts first came to the attention of U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials in October 2003 when a confidential informant in Virginia reported "that some residents of Virginia had recently returned from New Mexico, where they had hunted big game without State of New Mexico hunting licenses."
"These residents of Virginia had paid Jeffrey Clem to provide outfitting and guiding activities for these illegal hunts," reads the affidavit.
The confidential informant told Virginia authorities that "the modus operandi of Clem's hunting parties is to spot and shoot from the vehicle or on foot."
"Clem keeps a rifle in his vehicle," the affidavit says. "Once the animal is down, it is left. Clem then comes back in three to four days and locates the carcass, cuts the rack off and leaves most of the carcass to rot."
The informant said that the capes for mounting the game heads from the hunting parties were secured through Sierra Taxidermy.
Court records state that a taxidermist living in Virginia, Wesley McGlothlin, also is charged with violating the Lacey Act, but federal authorities in New Mexico could not confirm Wednesday whether McGlothlin had been placed under arrest.
The arrest warrant affidavits that were obtained Wednesday from the U.S. Attorney's Office quote an individual as stating, "Archuleta knew what Jeff Clem was doing, but Archuleta did not ask too many questions." Archuleta "concealed unlawfully taken wildlife... and has provided guiding and outfitting services for the purpose of illegally taking wildlife for money or other consideration," court records state.
Archuleta's mother, Viola Archuleta, was sitting in a car outside Sierra Taxidermy on Wednesday. She said that her son has been singled out by a rival outfitter who is retaliating against him because of his success.
Viola also complained, "They will not allow one person into that shop to see what they're doing. Who knows if they're stealing something? How do we know they're not planting something?"
Both Clem and Archuleta are charged in federal court with one count each of larceny and conspiracy under the Lacey Act, Gerson said. Gerson said each count carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison.
Clem and Archuleta are each scheduled for first appearances in court this morning before a U.S. district judge in Albuquerque.
Feds Uncover Illegal N.M. Hunts
By Jeremy Pawloski, Albuquerque Journal
Two Española men were arrested in raids Wednesday and are accused of participating in illegal elk and wild game hunts organized for tourists from Virginia.
The hunts took place in the Valles Caldera National Preserve and the Gila National Forest, according to federal court records.
Registered guide Jeffrey Clem of Española and Mike Archuleta, owner of Sierra Taxidermy in Española, were each placed under arrest and charged with violating federal wildlife law, officials from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Albuquerque said.
During a raid at Archuleta's taxidermy shop Wednesday morning by officers from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state Game and Fish Department, row upon row of elk antlers were seized and lined up near a flatbed truck. At least one stuffed game animal also was hauled away.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathon Gerson said Wednesday that Clem and Archuleta's criminal charges under the federal Lacey Act are basically for "selling illegally taken wildlife."
The U.S. government's theory of prosecution is that Clem and Archuleta went onto the Valles Caldera and other lands and would do "whatever it takes" to get elk for their customers illegally, Gerson said.
Cammie Nichols, a defense attorney representing Archuleta, said Wednesday her client "maintains that he's innocent of these charges." Nichols also said Archuleta's link to illegal activities described in court records is tenuous.
Nichols said that Archuleta is "well-regarded in the community," and that he has been the target of "bitterness" from Game and Fish officials because of a civil settlement he won against the department in the past.
Valles Caldera kills
According to the affidavits for Clem and Archuleta's arrests:
A confidential informant has told federal authorities that he killed an elk and an oryx— an African antelope— without a license during a hunting trip to New Mexico in September 2003. The informant said he paid $2,900 to Clem and a second man not charged in the case in exchange for killing the elk and oryx.
Court records also describe a hunting trip to the Valles Caldera on Sept. 30, 2004.
One man who was on that trip to the Valles Caldera "shot and killed a bull elk that day while being guided by Jeff Clem."
The bull elk was left at the scene, and on Oct. 3, Game and Fish officers "located a recently killed elk carcass on the Valles Caldera Preserve... The antlers and cape had been removed from the carcass."
Game and Fish officers later located a Remington cartridge at the Valles Caldera that is believed to have been used by the hunting party to shoot at a bull elk during the Sept. 30 trip.
Court records also state that Clem and another man have claimed that a bull elk mounted on the wall at Sierra Taxidermy was killed on the Valles Caera.
The Valles Caldera National Preserve provides extremely limited hunting opportunities for sportsmen. Each year it has a drawing for a small number of trophy bull elk hunts. Thousands of hunters from around the nation apply to hunt on acreage boasting the second-largest elk herd in New Mexico.
Mark Birkhauser, hunter education coordinator for Game and Fish, said Wednesday that more charges might come from the investigation that led to Clem and Archuleta's arrests.
Birkhauser said that illegal hunting ruins the work of wildlife officials who try to track and monitor species that are hunted legally in New Mexico.
"The wildlife in New Mexico belongs to the people of New Mexico," Birkhausr said. "So when they kill illegally, they're stealing from the people of New Mexico."
The elk antlers that were seized Wednesday from Sierra Taxidermy had tags on them. But Gerson said, "The mere fact that there were tags on the antlers doesn't mean that they were legally taken."
Tourists' trips
According to the affidavits for Clem and Archuleta's arrest, the illegal hunts first came to the attention of U.S. Fish and Wildlife officials in October 2003 when a confidential informant in Virginia reported "that some residents of Virginia had recently returned from New Mexico, where they had hunted big game without State of New Mexico hunting licenses."
"These residents of Virginia had paid Jeffrey Clem to provide outfitting and guiding activities for these illegal hunts," reads the affidavit.
The confidential informant told Virginia authorities that "the modus operandi of Clem's hunting parties is to spot and shoot from the vehicle or on foot."
"Clem keeps a rifle in his vehicle," the affidavit says. "Once the animal is down, it is left. Clem then comes back in three to four days and locates the carcass, cuts the rack off and leaves most of the carcass to rot."
The informant said that the capes for mounting the game heads from the hunting parties were secured through Sierra Taxidermy.
Court records state that a taxidermist living in Virginia, Wesley McGlothlin, also is charged with violating the Lacey Act, but federal authorities in New Mexico could not confirm Wednesday whether McGlothlin had been placed under arrest.
The arrest warrant affidavits that were obtained Wednesday from the U.S. Attorney's Office quote an individual as stating, "Archuleta knew what Jeff Clem was doing, but Archuleta did not ask too many questions." Archuleta "concealed unlawfully taken wildlife... and has provided guiding and outfitting services for the purpose of illegally taking wildlife for money or other consideration," court records state.
Archuleta's mother, Viola Archuleta, was sitting in a car outside Sierra Taxidermy on Wednesday. She said that her son has been singled out by a rival outfitter who is retaliating against him because of his success.
Viola also complained, "They will not allow one person into that shop to see what they're doing. Who knows if they're stealing something? How do we know they're not planting something?"
Both Clem and Archuleta are charged in federal court with one count each of larceny and conspiracy under the Lacey Act, Gerson said. Gerson said each count carries a maximum potential penalty of five years in prison.
Clem and Archuleta are each scheduled for first appearances in court this morning before a U.S. district judge in Albuquerque.
