Licensed big game outfitter, guide from Challis indicted for violating Lacey Act

POCATELLO, Idaho (KIFI) – A federal grand jury sitting in Pocatello returned a six-count indictment on Tuesday charging a licensed big game outfitter and licensed big game guide from Challis with Lacey Act violations.

U.S. Attorney Josh Hurwit announced 52-year-old Jerrod Randall Farr and 67-year-old Michael Timothy Scott were indicted.

Farr, a licensed outfitter (White Cloud Outfitters) and licensed guide, was indicted on five counts: two counts of Lacy Act violations, two counts of providing false or fictitious information to a Forest Service officer, and one count of conducting work activity without a special-use authorization. Scott, a former licensed outfitter (White Cloud Outfitters) and current licensed guide, was indicted on two counts of Lacey Act violations.

According to court records, the six-count indictment returned Tuesday alleges on two occasions (once in 2020 and once in 2022), Farr, owner and outfitter for White Cloud Outfitters, sold and facilitated Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep hunts that occurred in an area of the Salmon-Challis National Forest that is closed to commercial guiding, and Scott, as a guide for White Cloud Outfitters, illegally guided those hunts. The indictment further alleges Farr submitted a mandatory outfitter report to account for all White Cloud Outfitter activity on the National Forest in 2020 and falsely omitted information regarding the 2020, Rocky Mountain Big Horn Sheep hunt. The indictment also alleges on one occasion in 2022, Farr, as outfitter and guide, facilitated and guided a donated mountain lion hunt that involved releasing hunting hounds in the same area of the Salmon-Challis National Forest that is closed to commercial guiding. Farr submitted a mandatory outfitter report to account for all White Cloud Outfitter activity on the National Forest in 2022 and falsely omitted information regarding the 2022, donated mountain lion hunt. 

Farr and Scott are both scheduled for their initial court appearances on March 21, 2024, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah K. Grasham. 

Two of the alleged Lacey violations are punishable by up to five years in federal prison, a maximum fine of $250,000, and up to one year of supervised release. One of the alleged Lacey Act violations is punishable by up to one year in federal prison, a maximum fine of $100,000 and up to one year of supervised release. Providing false or fictitious information to a Forest Service officer is punishable by up to six months in federal prison and a maximum fine of $5,000.  Conducting work activity without a special-use authorization is punishable by up to six months in federal prison and a maximum fine of $5,000.

If convicted, a federal district court judge will determine any sentence for the defendants after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

U.S. Attorney Hurwit commended the work of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement, United States Forest Service, and the Idaho Department of Fish and Game, which led to the charges. Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Paskett is prosecuting this case.

An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.