A Haines-area big game guide was sentenced in U.S. District Court for “falsifying paperwork in order to conceal illegal hunting activity,” it was announced by the U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler on Thursday.

U.S. District Court Judge Timothy M. Burgess sentenced 65-year-old John Katzeek for a felony violation of the Lacey Act and was placed on probation for a period of four years, fined $2,000 and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service. Katzeek also lost his hunting and guiding privileges anywhere in the world during his probationary period, including any subsistence hunting in Alaska or Canada. As a felon, Katzeek is also precluded from possessing any firearms. Katzeek’s age and  medical conditions were considered during his sentencing.

The conviction was a result of an investigation that began in 2013 that led to charges by the U.S. in 2014. Those charges stemmed from an investigation that found that Katzeek falsified paperwork for a May 2011 big game hunt where he declared that he had guided the hunt when, in actuality, he remained in town during the hunt. Katzeek also intentionally failed to list the assistant guide who actually guided the hunt and listed another assistant guide as taking part in the hunt but was found to not having done so. In court, it was also determined that Katzeek “falsified the amount of meat that was harvested from the animal when in fact little to no meat was harvested,” the Department of Justice stated.

The investigation into Katzeek was begun in 2013 when Canada Crown prosecutors in Alberta and the Yukon Territory charged a total of 17 individuals with 55 violations of the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and the Regulation of International and Inter-provincial Trade Act. The investigation in some cases, was done jointly between Canada and the U.S. More trials from that joint investigation are scheduled for the spring and summer of 2015.

  department of justice, john katzeek, Lacey act, sentencing