SCARBOROUGH, Maine — A California man is facing charges after he and several others reportedly were found camping inside a protected nesting area on Thursday.
Cpl. John MacDonald of the Maine Warden Service said wardens were patrolling Higgins Beach when they encountered 11 people camping inside a protected piping plover nesting area.
Game Wardens Jason Scott and Peter Herring saw the campers sitting around a fire in a restricted area, which MacDonald said has been a problem in recent years.
A pair of individuals also reportedly were tampering with enclosures the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife had erected, and when the campers saw the wardens, they took off, according to MacDonald.
Scott and Herring quickly stopped them and brought them back to the campsite, where Herring saw an open backpack next to a campfire.
The pack belonged to Mark Brazil, 18, of Studio City, Calif., who MacDonald said spends summers in Maine.
Brazil’s pack contained several spring-loaded knives, newspapers and a trail camera with DIF&W markings on it, according to MacDonald.
Brazil also was found to be in possession of a scanner with Maine State Police and Scarborough police frequencies. He was charged with receiving stolen property and an unpermitted fire in a state wildlife management area.
Other members of the camp weren’t charged.
Gotta love big government… “sorry, you cant live here because some birds want to”
Regardless of why, it is restricted. They had no right to be there. They also didn’t have the right to tamper with property that doesn’t belong to them. The fire was illegal. Stolen property tops it off. All you got out of that was “some birds?”
It is “restricted” do to a bunch of people who spend our tax dollars to try to screw with nature. It is ILLEGAL to mess with wildlife. Unless your IFW and wish to save, feed, move or kill a animal then it is ok.
FYI the fences and pens the birds are in and the camera are owned by the state thus owned by the PEOPLE so in effect they are his to touch.
Let me get on the beach with a few boxes of shells and this will cease to be a issue. LOL
live here? i think they were illegally camping. By all means lets destroy all the wildlife to not inconvenience a few people…..
If they were all caught illegally camping why was only one person singled out and summonsed? Especially if this is an ongoing issue! Coming from Law Enforcement, I think all should have been summonsed not just one because he had other legal issues involved.
Same reason a Ellsworth LE can drive 90 MPH and get off and a state trooper can show up to work drunk in a official vehicle and not get fired on the spot. Same reason we have tough drunk driving laws but those caught drunk driving have several dui’s already on there record. Same reason almost every person breaking the law reported in the BDN has a extensive record but is free to do it again.
Because nobody is held responsible for there actions. That would be mean..
Did they take 27 8 x 10 color glossy’s with circles and arrows & a paragraph on the back of each one to be used as evidence against them??
if it’s a typical case of american blind justice it won’t matter. i bet the only punishment they get will be to pay 50 dollars and have to pickk up the garbage. i hope he doesnt have to spend any time with the mother stabbers and father rapers over there on the “Group W” bench.
lol. thanks for the laughs.
You can get anything you want….
‘ceptin Alice
Pick up the garbage in the snow…
Spring loaded knives! newspapers! Trail cams! Scanners!
These guys must be Al Qaeda operatives looking for the soft underbelly of the nation, they may have been preparing to immolate themselves and take thousands of innocent birds with them. Thank Allah the wardens are on the job!
lol
What a life, winters in California and summers in Maine and you don’t have to work to be able to do it.
Ryan McLaughlin has no idea what is going on at Higgins beach. This one sided ignorant article aims to scapegoat a kid having a beach fire for 15 years of failed attempts to bring back the plover population at higgins beach. Mark Brazil was NOT camping in a plover area, Mark Brazil is NOT in ANY picture taking a camera from the beach, and has done more good for Higins beach than Ryan McLaughlin has in the last 10 years. Mark continues to be one of the Higgins Youth who pick up trash off the beach every day left by tourists and locals alike who dont care a fraction as much as he does about this place. Higgins Beach has been known for its special place in southern Maine culture and The Beach Fire has been a staple since 1964. Since the efforts of IFW and Maine Audobon have not succeeded in bringing back the plover population in 15 years, they have begun to look for excuses rather than answers. What they have failed to look at is wether or not nature is taking its due course. The tide has continously been higher over the past few years and it is well documented that the plover nests have been washed away each year. Also, its important to note that the volunteers who claim to be protecting the plovers stepped on two nests last year while using binoculars while walking through the nesting area, killing the birds.It is not to say that the nesting area has not been tampered with, but a few knocked over wooden stakes by a couple of kids from Chelmsford Mass shouldnt be construed as “massive damage.”It is a FACT that Mark Brazil is not on camera taking any device, BUT is is a fact that the only images recorded were of a 4 year old girl in a bikini and several of the photos are of the area between her belly button and her knees. Now, lets decide if this is really what we want to be known for here at Higgins Beach. A place where cameras are ILLEGALY placed NOT toward the plover area, but toward unaware sunbathers and children.
Additional charges of hijacking fried clam plates from Ken’s.
“So we got in the red VW microbus with the
shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and headed on toward the
police officer’s station.”