2 Fishermen sentenced 10 days jail for Walleye tourney cheating

[Neil McCauley]

https://www.news5cleveland.com/news/local-news/watch-live-sentencing-for-2-fishermen-who-pleaded-guilty-to-charges-for-cheating-in-walleye-tournament

Seriously...?

If I lived in Ohio I'd sue the state to recover my wasted tax dollars spent on this.

[hunts2long]

Wasted in what matter. If you are saying it should have been a tougher sentence, as a fisherman, I agree. We need info like this out there for all to see. Cheating is slap in everyone's face weather a small local contest or on the NWT.

Where is see your "wasted" tax dollars being spent goes to a much bigger issue in this country today. 2 guys put some lead in a fish and within a year it has been investigated, sent to trial and they are in jail for 10 days. Their lives and the lives of their families are ruined as it should be, but real crimes against all of us are being committed everyday and nothing is being done, NOTHING.

If I didn't understand your "wasted" statement I'm sorry for my rant. I have fished for over 70 years but I have been American for the same time and I don't like what is happening to our Country. Fishing or otherwise....h2l

[iceman260]

They should have got more time in jail. They gave fishing tournaments a bad name,they stole thousands of dollars and get only ten days. Doesn’t seem Ike much of a deterrent to me.

[OldSailor]

Wasted in what matter. If you are saying it should have been a tougher sentence, as a fisherman, I agree. We need info like this out there for all to see. Cheating is slap in everyone's face weather a small local contest or on the NWT.

Where is see your "wasted" tax dollars being spent goes to a much bigger issue in this country today. 2 guys put some lead in a fish and within a year it has been investigated, sent to trial and they are in jail for 10 days. Their lives and the lives of their families are ruined as it should be, but real crimes against all of us are being committed everyday and nothing is being done, NOTHING.

If I didn't understand your "wasted" statement I'm sorry for my rant. I have fished for over 70 years but I have been American for the same time and I don't like what is happening to our Country. Fishing or otherwise....h2l

Same with me!!Fished over 70 years and  spent a quarter of my life defending idiots like this!! I'm tired of murderers and previously convicted felons walk free with just a light slap on the wrist!! Our country is going to hell in a hand basket!! Ask me why I carry!!!
 

[Old Goat]

They should have got more time in jail. They gave fishing tournaments a bad name,they stole thousands of dollars and get only ten days. Doesn’t seem Ike much of a deterrent to me.

     X2

[WARRIOR_ON_ICE]

It does not warrant a state prison sentence, but 10 days in jail is not a deterrent and I would bet that these guys will try to do this again. 90 days in jail seems more like it, that is not long enough to ruin your life, but long enough so that you will not want to commit another crime of any kind the rest of your life.

[HWeber]

Cry cry cry nothing is going to change. This has been talked about half a dozen times already. Fishing tourneys need to police their own. Leave the courts to deal with real criminals

[skifisher]

Cry cry cry nothing is going to change. This has been talked about half a dozen times already. Fishing tourneys need to police their own. Leave the courts to deal with real criminals

How does one define a “real criminal”?

[WARRIOR_ON_ICE]

Stealing a tournament's prize money by registering fraudulent fish weights should be considered larceny or grand larceny, and that is always a crime regardless of the means involved to commit the crime. That said, maybe if honest fishermen boycotted the tournaments that don't have the tools or desire to enforce rules, those tournaments would cease to exist.

[rdhammah]

h2l, i agree in part with what you said. The one statement that I do not agree with is that "...the lives of their families are ruined as it should be". Unless they were an active part of these guys' cheating or knew what they were doing and failed to report it, wouldn't they be considered innocent victims?

[HWeber]

Cheating in a contest or sport may fit the literal definition of fraud but should be handled by the folks putting on the contest. Tournament ban and a wanton waste ticket is all I could support. Trust the tournament organizers to enforce their rules or don't participate. It's not the legal systems job to enforce contest rules.

As I mentioned it's been argued over for months on numerous threads here. Anything that there is to say has already been said.

[hunts2long]

"...the lives of their families are ruined as it should be".

I just know that IF I had done something like this the WIFE would make my life a living H.LL...h2l

[primepin65]

Cheating in a contest or sport may fit the literal definition of fraud but should be handled by the folks putting on the contest. Tournament ban and a wanton waste ticket is all I could support. Trust the tournament organizers to enforce their rules or don't participate. It's not the legal systems job to enforce contest rules.

As I mentioned it's been argued over for months on numerous threads here. Anything that there is to say has already been said.

I don't think it should be up to the tournament organizers to handle the fact that the scammers stole somewhere in the neighborhood of $300k from the rightful winners of those events. I know that they could only prove the fraud in that specific event, but there had been allegations against the 2 scammers for a long time before that. That is a heck of a lot more money than some jerk stealing an item from a store. I know they were ordered to pay all that money back, and probably a larger amount with fines, but stealing $300k should warrant more than 10 days in jail regardless of where the money was stolen from.

[WARRIOR_ON_ICE]

I don't think it should be up to the tournament organizers to handle the fact that the scammers stole somewhere in the neighborhood of $300k from the rightful winners of those events. I know that they could only prove the fraud in that specific event, but there had been allegations against the 2 scammers for a long time before that. That is a heck of a lot more money than some jerk stealing an item from a store. I know they were ordered to pay all that money back, and probably a larger amount with fines, but stealing $300k should warrant more than 10 days in jail regardless of where the money was stolen from.

Absolutely man. This is grand larceny and the convicted felons should have been given a jail sentence worthy of this serious felony. To all of those on here saying that it should not be a criminal matter because it is " only a fishing contest ", stealing money is stealing money and should be dealt with according to the laws regarding grand larceny. This is different than poaching game or fish out of season because of the financial aspect of it. The families of these guys should in no way be punished if they were not involved with the crime.

[HWeber]

Absolutely man. This is grand larceny and the convicted felons should have been given a jail sentence worthy of this serious felony. To all of those on here saying that it should not be a criminal matter because it is " only a fishing contest ", stealing money is stealing money and should be dealt with according to the laws regarding grand larceny. This is different than poaching game or fish out of season because of the financial aspect of it. The families of these guys should in no way be punished if they were not involved with the crime.

You're letting emotions ruin logical thinking. The large dollar signs have brought out large emotions. Change the dollar amount or contest/sport and it's pretty easy to see how ridiculous this all has been.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/more-sports/professional-cornhole-world-rocked-by-baggate-cheating-scandal/news-story/45a356b786a2e70c9150a266fcb8bb62
This competition for example? "Only" $15,000. Two finalist both found to be cheating. Should other participants be sueing? Should the state be pressing charges?

[WARRIOR_ON_ICE]

You're letting emotions ruin logical thinking. The large dollar signs have brought out large emotions. Change the dollar amount or contest/sport and it's pretty easy to see how ridiculous this all has been.

https://www.foxsports.com.au/more-sports/professional-cornhole-world-rocked-by-baggate-cheating-scandal/news-story/45a356b786a2e70c9150a266fcb8bb62
This competition for example? "Only" $15,000. Two finalist both found to be cheating. Should other participants be sueing? Should the state be pressing charges?

 Fair enough, so potential contest participants should make themselves aware of the big potential for cheating. I can see both sides of the argument now, either letting the contest organizers answer for cheating allegations or let law enforcement get involved. I already know that I would not register for any fishing contest, long before reading this post.

[BF1983]

10 days or 100 days, at the end of the day, they will never be able to undo what they did, nor will they ever be able to shake the judgment from their peers.  They may not have lost all of the money they stole, but they did lose the boat, and will forever be those two famous walleye cheats.  They have to live with knowing that their friends and family all know who they are and what kind of character they have.  Some people don't do bad things because they know it's wrong and some people don't do bad things because they may get caught.  May not seem like it, but there is a stark difference between the two.