Cody man pays fine for illegal outfitting

Posted 12/20/16

In Park County’s Circuit Court this month, 47-year-old Jim Pehringer pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor count of outfitting without a license. That was in connection with allegations that Pehringer assisted — and accepted money from — a …

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Cody man pays fine for illegal outfitting

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A Cody man agreed to pay more than $1,000 and accept a conviction for acting as an unlicensed outfitter in 2013.

In Park County’s Circuit Court this month, 47-year-old Jim Pehringer pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor count of outfitting without a license. That was in connection with allegations that Pehringer assisted — and accepted money from — a hunter at a ranch outside of Meeteetse in the fall of 2013.

Accepting a deal reached between the prosecution and defense, Fifth Judicial Circuit Court Judge Bruce Waters ordered Pehringer pay a $1,000 fine and $40 in court costs for the crime. Pehringer will not lose any hunting privileges.

As part of the deal, the Park County Attorney’s Office dropped seven other counts of outfitting without a license, which alleged Pehringer had helped guide seven other hunters at the Antlers Ranch.

Though the allegations date back three years, prosecutors didn’t file the charges until April.

Antlers Ranch owner Sam May came to Pehringer’s defense. May said that, although Pehringer collected money from some hunters, Pehringer had always intended to and ultimately did turn the money over to the ranch.

May said Pehringer was assisting with hunts on the ranch for free, with an understanding he might be offered a job in the future.

At the time, Pehringer was working as the local supervisor of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services.

Court records indicate Pehringer collected some $7,600 from hunters in the fall of 2013. That money stayed in his bank account until Wyoming State Board of Outfitters and Guides investigator Dan Hodge got a warrant to search the account in July 2014. However, May took the blame for the delayed payment. He said in a sworn statement that Pehringer wrote him $7,600 worth of checks months earlier and that he’d forgotten them in a glove box; May said Pehringer contacted him and re-issued the checks after learning of Hodge’s investigation.

The Antlers Ranch website had listed Pehringer as its “head guide.” However, May — who helped create the ranch’s website — said that was not accurate.

Court records say investigators also probed whether Pehringer illegally guided hunters at the Spring Gulch Ranch in Hot Springs County in 2013. A few hunters said Pehringer managed hunts and collected their money at that ranch, too, according to Hodge’s summaries of their statements.

Pehringer reportedly told Hodge that he’d given the

hunters’ money to Spring Gulch Ranch’s owner and “the intent was not to make money for (Pehringer), but to help the ranch with improvements, such as water lines that were put in for wildlife.”

A 2005 opinion from the Wyoming Attorney General says that only a landowner can guide hunters on their property without an outfitting license; landowners’ employees must get a license. When Hodge explained the ruling to Pehringer in April 2014, Pehringer said he hadn’t known that and “guessed he’d been in violation of this for the past 19 years,” Hodge recounted in a sworn statement.

Deputy Park County Prosecuting Attorney Branden Vilos said in court that, as part of the plea deal, prosecutors in Hot Springs County have promised not to pursue any charges against Pehringer for any of his actions that were investigated between 2011 and 2014.

The deal did not settle a legal question that had been raised in the Park County case.

Through his defense attorney, Joey Darrah of Powell, Pehringer had argued he had a right to be tried by a jury on the charges; the state contended that — because outfitting violations do not carry the possibility of jail time — Pehringer was only entitled to a bench trial before a judge.

Fifth Judicial District Court Judge Steven Cranfill had begun to hear arguments on the dispute, but the plea deal brought an end to the dispute.

As Pehringer prepared to change his plea to no contest at his Dec. 5 sentencing, Judge Waters warned him that, “you’re giving up your right to a jury trial,” before catching himself with a laugh.

“Well, who knows if you’re giving up your right to a jury trial,” Waters said.

“Possibly,” offered one of the attorneys.

“You’re possibly giving up your jury trial,” Waters agreed. “You’re definitely giving up your right to a bench trial.”

Pehringer paid his $1,040 penalty immediately after the hearing.

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