A Kingston, Idaho, man pleaded guilty last month in Homer District Court to two fishing and hunting charges.
In a plea bargain, Teddy Beamis, 60, pleaded guilty to failure to present for inspection all fish he possessed and knowingly making a false statement on a hunting and fishing license. Beamis also has a home in Soldotna.
In a court hearing on Jan. 31, Homer District Court Judge Margaret Murphy fined Beamis $3,000 on each charge, for $6,000 total, and revoked his hunting license for two years and his fishing license for one year.
According to a criminal complaint by Alaska Wildlife Trooper Trent Chwialkowski, on July 15, 2015, Chwialkowski contacted Beamis and three other Idaho fishermen in Beamis’ boat at the Anchor Point beach tractor launch and said he saw eight halibut in a cooler. One fisherman, Casey Brady, 49, did not have a valid sport fish license and said he kept two halibut. Another fisherman, Terry L. Brady, 68, said he kept three halibut, one over the limit, and a third fisherman said he kept two halibut. Chwialkowski said he asked Beamis if he had any halibut, and Beamis denied having any fish. Chwialkowski got a search warrant and found three more halibut in addition to the eight halibut in the cooler. Troopers seized the fish.
When Chwialkowski asked for identification, Beamis produced an Alaska resident sportfishing and hunting license and a current Idaho driver’s license. Chwialkowski then began an investigation into Beamis’ residency, according to an affidavit filed Oct. 27, 2015.
“Beamis has owned a residence off Riverside Drive in Soldotna since 2010 but is a resident of Kingston, Idaho, where is (sic) owns several businesses tied to his primary residence at 15 Copper Street,” Chwialkowski wrote in his affidavit.
Beamis claimed homestead property tax exemptions provided to Idaho residencts on his property there from 1988–2015, according to the affidavit. He also purchased Idaho residence hunting permits in September 2010, eight months before claiming he had been a resident of Alaska for a year and purchasing resident sportfishing and hunting licenses in the state. He also registered to vote in Idaho in 2013, while his wife never obtained Alaska resident identification and purchased nonresident hunting and fishing licenses, according to the affidavit.
Beamis originally faced 13 charges, including falsification of residency on sportfishing and hunting licenses and tags for multiple years, taking a moose in a resident-only hunt near the Koyukuk River in September 2011 while obtaining Idaho resident benefits, transporting that moose, taking another moose near Falls Creek in 2013 and obtaining a personal use fishing permit, according to the court documents.
In the plea agreement, the Kenai District Attorney’s office dismissed a charge of taking an overlimit of halibut and three hunting charges for not having a nonresident big game tag, hunting seasons and bag limits, and unlawful possession or transportation of big game related to the hunting trip in Koyukuk.
Casey Brady pleaded guilty to not having a valid sport fishing license, a violation, and was fined $200. Terry Brady pleaded guilty to taking an overlimit of halibut, a violation, and was fined $150.
Peninsula Clarion reporter Elizabeth Earl contributed to this story. Reach her at elizabeth.earl@peninsulaclarion.com. Reach Michael Armstrong at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.
