FORKS – A woman from Lacey was sentenced in Clallam County’s west end last week on poaching charges relating to a 2015 elk hunt.
39-year-old Rochelle Warner had previously been found guilty of two counts of Unlawful Hunting of Big Game and Unlawful Hunting on the Property of Another in November of last year.
Court records show that in October of 2015, Warner and a friend encountered an elk herd on the north end of the late Ted Spoelstra’s property north of Forks, shot one of the elk and began to retrieve it, even though it was not elk season.
During that time, she encountered a Fish and Wildlife officer, who found that she didn’t have a Washington State hunting license or elk tag, though she did possess a proper license and tag issued by the Quileute tribe, of which she is a member.
Warner claimed that she was hunting legally under tribal regulations and said falsely that she had permission to hunt on the private property.
She was sentenced by Judge John Doherty to 25 days in jail but will be allowed to perform 200 hours of community service in lieu of confinement.
In addition, her hunting privileges were suspended by Fish and Wildlife for two years, she was fined $2,000 for taking an elk illegally, and must also pay $743 in legal fees.
The elk shot by Warner was transported to Forks for charity donation to prevent it from going to waste.