AUGUSTA, Maine — A Mount Vernon man was indicted Thursday by the Kennebec County grand jury on more than 50 counts of fish- and wildlife-related crimes, according to the Maine Warden Service.
Charges against Joseph A. Deleskey, 38, include night hunting, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, criminal trespass, hunting deer after having killed one, driving deer and possessing loaded firearms in motor vehicles.
The indictment was the result of an 18-month investigation into the illegal hunting activity of Deleskey and his associates, according to Cpl. John MacDonald of the Maine Warden Service.
As a result of intelligence gathered through resident complaints, the Operation Game Thief hotline and surveillance conducted by game wardens, the Warden Service in February executed six search warrants and two arrest warrants in the Mount Vernon area. Deleskey was arrested for possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and Clayton C. Hall, 48, of Vienna for hunting deer after having killed one.
The investigation implicated several associates and family members of Deleskey and his extended family from as far away as Danvers, Mass. During the investigation the wardens found Deleskey in violation of more than 100 fish and game laws and regulations, according to MacDonald. He is alleged to have been involved in the illegal killing or wounding of more than a dozen deer.
After consultation with the Kennebec County district attorney’s office, the additional charges were filed against Deleskey. Hall also was charged with nine additional charges including criminal trespass, driving deer, terrorizing, hunting deer after having killed one and possessing unregistered deer.
Other associates of Deleskey facing charges as a result of the investigation are: Robert Rooney, 48, of Vassalboro; Valter Almeida, 36, of Peabody, Mass.; Bonnie Currier, 39, of Vienna; Douglas Stevens III, 41, of Mount Vernon; Richard A. Deleskey, 62, of Danvers Mass.; and Richard M. Deleskey, 41, of Danvers, Mass.
If convicted, Deleskey and Hall face jail time, fines and license suspensions.
Information on charges faced by the other defendants was not available Saturday afternoon.
If he’s convicted he should never be allowed to hunt again.
I agree with you 100%. People like these guys give us honest sportsmen and women a bad name. With more and more people posting their land it’s already hard enough to get landowners to give permission to hunt on their property
michael1947: You do not “need” someone’s permission to “hunt” on their unimproved property. It’s merely a courtesy to ask. The 1973 Great Ponds Act allow a trespass by foot over “unimproved property” to access or egress a great pond and you can carry a gun while you are engaged in your legal trespass. Please know that you are “hunting” as a matter of law if you possess a firearm in the “fields, forests or waters” of Maine. OK, class is over. LOL
do you know the title and chapter to that law?
Title 17 – Chapter 127: TRESPASS – §3860. Great pond; access or egress No person on foot shall be denied access or egress over unimproved land to a great pond except that this provision shall not apply to access or egress over the land of a water company or a water district when the water from the great pond is utilized as a source for public water. [1973, c. 530, §2 (NEW).]
The Attorney General shall, upon complaint of a person being denied said access or egress, if in his judgment the public interest so requires, prosecute criminally or civilly any person who denies such right of access or egress. [1973, c. 530, §2 (NEW).]
Any person may maintain an action in the Superior Court having jurisdiction where the alleged denial of access or egress occurred or is likely to occur for declaratory and equitable relief and actual and punitive damages against any person, partnership, corporation or other legal entity for any violations of this section. [1973, c. 530, §2 (NEW).]
Whoever violates this section shall be punished by a fine of not more than $100 and by imprisonment for not more than 90 days. [1973, c. 530, §2 (NEW).]
I don’t doubt what you say but if I see a sign that says No Hunting or Hunting By Permission Only , I won’t hunt there or if I ask permission and I’m turned down I feel obligated to honor the landowners wishes. Most of the landowners I’ve talked to have been really nice even when they turned me down.
michaela1947: All fish and wildlife in Maine belong to the people collectively – not the landowner. This issue went to the Maine Supreme Court many years ago when some arrogant landowner fenced off a peninsular on the coast in an effort to make it his private hunting preserve.
That is not accurate. Great ponds laws have to do with determining whether or not a body of water is public or private. It dates back to disputes between mills using water flow to turn water wheels and ice cutters who would cut ice and reduce the available water flow. A “great pond” in Maine has surface area over 10 acres. These great ponds are considered public property Great ponds laws exist in some form in every state and they tend to vary.
Bottom line, these laws have nothing to do with hunting. Trespassing on private property, improved or otherwise, is still trespassing.
You do not know what you are talking about. I’ve been to the Maine Supreme Court regarding the Great Ponds Act and I have forgotten more about it than you will ever know. If I sound like a “know it all” it’s because I do. Check the Millinocket Fin & Feather Club website and click on the archives button. It is every person’s right to start walking on unimproved property in Southern Maine and walk to a great pond in northern Maine if that is his desire. No Trespass signs have no legal significance when one is excising his rights of trespass under the Great Ponds Act that was rooted in the colonial ordinances of 1640 that provided the “right to trespass to fish and fowl except upon corn and meadow. Stop and think about what would happen if sportsmen did not have the Great Ponds Act. I am very capable of writing a book about the Great Ponds Act and Public Access to the waters and land that we the people own collectively.
You have room in your house for a computer and furniture to put it on with a head that big? Wow. Post a link to a resource.
First thank you for providing a title for the law. The law was you can cross the land to access a great pond, it says nothing about hunting the land. Also you’re going to trespass from southern maine to northern maine without crossing an improved property.
Sleepycreek, while you are exercising your legal right to trespass on unimproved property, you can also do anything else that is permitted by law such as hunt, fish, take photos, read a book, bark at the moon, etc. And the law says that IF you are in “posession” of a firearm in the fields, forests or waters of Maine, you ARE hunting and a license is required unless what you are carrying is a pistol which is not considered as a hunting weapon for practical purposes. Better you read the many, many laws that apply than me trying to explain and put them in layman’s language – and doing so from memory. We have so many laws that some of the Maine wardens tell me they don’t even know them all. I once trained Passamaquoddy tribal rangers. What I am really learned in is 4th Amendment law. Take a look at my handout called Notice to Sportsmen. I put out 60,000 of them back a few years ago when I was an activist at the Maine Legislature. And please know that I am a two-fingered typist so please forgive the typos if I have made any.
I’ll only forgive your typos, if you forgive any of mine. I do read the laws a fair amount because I find them interesting, I don’t read title 17 because most of the laws covered there are repealled. Title 12 chapter 901 ss 10001 paragraph 31 defines hunting as “31. Hunt. To “hunt” means to pursue, catch, take, kill or harvest wild animals or wild birds or to attempt to catch, take, kill or harvest wild animals or wild birds.” . Here is the part I find the most interesting Title 17-A chapter 17 ss 402 paragraph 4 A “4. For the purposes of subsection 1, paragraph C, property is posted if it is marked with signs or paint in compliance with this subsection. Proof that any posted sign or paint marking is actually seen by an intruder gives rise to a permissible inference under the Maine Rules of Evidence, Rule 303 that such posted sign or paint marking is posted in a manner reasonably likely to come to the attention of intruders.
A. Signs must indicate that access is prohibited, that access is prohibited without permission of the landowner or the landowner’s agent, or that access for a particular purpose is prohibited.”.So to my understaning if your attampting to catch a wild animal on posted land you are trespassing.
Yes, I am trespassing but doing so legally. Trust me, I have walked by No Trespassing signs that were on “unimproved” property so many times you wouldn’t believe it. And I purposely did it in the presence of a Game Warden wishing I could get a summons to once and for all clear or clarify the law at the Maine Supreme Court. All of the wardens refused to give me a summons. I have even walked through the North Maine Woods gates on “improved land” without paying and trying to get a summons. Again, no luck. All the gate keepers know who I am and they know that I know the law. One gatekeeper even told me to “walk down the middle of the road all the way to Canada if that is what I wanted to.” And he laughed like hell when he said it. The one summons for criminal trespass that I did receive was from a Lewiston police officer in 1996 who did not know the law was actually dismissed when I got to court for trial. I actually argued my case before the judge insisting that I be given a trial. I lost my argument because both the judge and the DA knew that I knew my legal rights of trespass.
Very interesting. Must of stuck in your claw a bit when you realized the gatekeeper gave you permission so you were no longer trespassing. So if a piece of land has no great pond on it, is surrounded by public roads, and is posted, you can hunt it?
Correct. It’s all about access and egress to a great pond regardless of where the great pond is and where you are accessing or egressing from. And like I have said, if you are in possession of a firearm, as described by law, and you possess it in the “field, forests or waters” of Maine, you are hunting and would be hunting illegally if you did not have a hunting license. Sleepycreek, try making it simple. You seem to be trying to complicate the whole issue. I’d bet a thousand dollars that you are one of the possessive landowners. We also have a legal right to walk/wade/trespass up a running body of water and if we come to an obstruction like a dam or a waterfalls, we have the right to walk around the obstruction – improved land or unimproved land. OK, class is over for the day. I’m tired and I have some legal work to do.
Well have a good night. By the way you owe someone a grand. I do own some land (not a ton) but I have no issue with people using it (I have ran one group of hunters off but they were breaking multiple laws). A few people, I know of, hunt my land, I allow an ITS trail through it (the snowmobile club likes me), I even give other trappers permission to trap my land that I am already trapping.
Check is in the mail but it is coming by pony express. It’s been great chatting with you. Have a great week.
You as well.
He told ya to walk down the center of the road so you’d get run over by a logging truck ya damn fool!!!
I must stand in awe of someone who “knows it all” – or at least thinks they do. I am just joking with you. Thanks for the info.
My last post of the day just to provide the readers with one little piece of legal trespass information. We also have a legal right to trespass on “improved property” on the shore of a great pond between the low and high water mark. The lake I live on is large and it has a dam on the outlet which raises and lowers the level of water significantly. Think about this when some arrogant jerk thinks he owns his beach and you don’t even have the right to stop and take a breather while you are kayaking. I always carry copies of the significant laws when I am trespassing – especially a copy of the Great Ponds Act. Most people who live on or have camps on the lakes and ponds have never even heard of it. They know all about it after they read the copy that I give them and in every instance I have made friends rather than enemies by providing them with this legal information.
Actually if the land is not posted its not trespassing on unposted private land.
Laws really didn’t seem to stop him before so why would he start obeying them now?
He should never be able to hunt legally. They’ll probably all continue.
I agree but that’s not going to stop them. These people have no regard for others and OUR natural resources. 20 years ago I would see deer just about every day – now maybe 8x a year.
Very depressing. Citizens of Maine, I implore you to watch out for aholes like this and report them. I have never posted my land but reconsider when I hear stories like this. They need significant jail time, fines and lose the right to own/use a firearm.
I agree, but he did not follow the laws to begin with, so why would he follow that restriction? He just won’t care and will do it anyway.
The judge should sentence him to “Life in Massachusetts.” with his pals.
Why? He might actually be able to make a living then.
That is cruel and unusual punishment!!!
That’s the way I feel every time I go up to the County to see family.
Get me the freek away from all these trailers stuck in an old potato field with their 3 sided chipboard entries and a broken appliance stuck outside! Boston’s craziness seems normal to me know.
I wish more of your neighbors felt the way you do! Best of luck to ya.
To generalize the County like this is not needed!There are places like what you describe everywhere.Problem is Rte 1 is the only major artery up this way.Proud member of Aroostook County Maine!!!
You didn’t see my moniker, I guess.
I lived all over the County for 21 years and have spent 35 making pilgrimages back. I’m proud of that heritage, but dismayed whenever I see another old house, building or business abandoned. There is no effort made except to stick a tin building or trailer where there was a nice downtown (my hometown was a nice turn of the century village pop 600) turned into collapsing buildings surrounded by tall grass and burdocks on The main road. Losing Loring has decimated any thing that was there. Streets roll up at 8pm. You obviously haven’t spent much time where brick buildings with interesting architecture is the norm, or like my adopted town where trailers and illuminated signs have been banned for at least 40 years. 36 square miles with 5000 people. 78% blue collar republicans and my 3 bedroom home with electric everything including water pump (except heat ) has never had a light bill over $43 because we have a co-op. That’s why I’m down a bit on the place.
And yes, all 3 of my brothers are missing the obligatory front tooth…. :)
To each is his own I guess. I know that feel the exact opposite whenever my job takes me to Boston, New York, DC, or any other congested, overpopulated, smog ridden, gang infested, crime ridden, centers of human culture.
I’m sorry that your business takes you to Roxbury, Spanish Harlem, and anywhere in DC except for Georgetown. You ought to try the nicer sections. They even leave the streets rolled out after 8PM down here!
Too Bad.If you do the crime then you may face life for time!!!!!
5 years is paltry for such a blatant disregard of safety and the law. Can someone lose the ability to own guns period over hunting violations?
Probably not since firearms have other uses besides hunting. However, if these hunting violations constitute felonies and he’s convicted then he becomes a “prohibited person” and cannot be in possession of a firearm.
But he IS charged for possession by a prohibited person which means that he’s either already a felon, or had a juvenile record that would have made him a felon if the act was committed as an adult or subject of a court order for domestic abuse or judged mentally ill/insane and likely to pose a threat. Which means he wasn’t allowed to have a gun. Apparently this didn’t help.
This is why our deer heard looks the way it does. Just goes to you that if you get a doe permit just do not use it. Save another deer for years to come. I hope the Maine Warden Service puts all this scum buckets away for a long time and they are never able to hunt again. Really all they are is low lifes.
Revoke their hunting licenses if you wish, but please remember that in reality a hunting license is nothing but a piece of paper/plastic. And please remember that we have 10 private hunting preserves in Maine where a hunting license is not a legal requirement to hunt. No matter what the legal system does, willful violators of the law cannot be stopped. Crime and punishment has been studied for over 200 years and the authorities have yet to find a deterrent that works and is within the confines of our 8th Amendment that forbids “cruel and unusual punishment.” OK students, class is over. LOL
Show me a person who says he/she has not violated the law and I’ll show you a liar. I write this comment thinking about the fact that 35,000 people are killed every year on our nation’s highways with nearly 3 million people injured – mostly because of speed and alcohol consumption. And yet, I can see by reading these comments, that the commenters think killing an extra deer or two is a far more serious crime than obeying our driving laws. I’ve not known a single person in my lifetime who has always obeyed our motor vehicle laws. Seems to me that the death or injury of a human being is more important than the death of a deer.
Not saying what he did was right but what gets me is at the same time countless human babies are murdered every day and not a word said.