A younger Michigan man at present going through fees in Wyoming for an city deer-poaching spree has additionally been accused of taking pictures a cow in 2023, in keeping with the Powell Tribune. Prosecutors tacked on the extra felony cost final week and mentioned the cow appeared to have been shot with an arrow (or a number of arrows) and left to waste, identical to the mule deer that had been discovered rotting in Cody over the summer season.
The accused, 20-year-old Michigan resident Josh Wielhouwer, is now trying on the one felony cost for property destruction along with the 18 misdemeanor counts for the 9 mule deer he allegedly poached and left to rot in 2024. Park County Circuit Courtroom Choose Joey Darrah, who’s overseeing the case, elevated Wielhouwer’s bail Friday to $43,500 in gentle of the extra felony cost, the Tribune experiences. Wielhouwer’s bail had initially been set at $36,000, however he was unable to pay it and has been held on the Park County Detention Center since his arrest in September.
“I do have in mind that the defendant had beforehand turned himself in, however now we have now a felony cost,” Darrah mentioned Friday, in keeping with the Tribune. “It’s an entire totally different ball recreation.”
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The preliminary felony case in opposition to Weilhouwer revolves round allegations that he went on a mule deer killing spree in downtown Cody over the summer season. Between Aug. 27 and Sept. 4, two bucks, six does, and one fawn had been discovered killed and left to rot inside metropolis limits. A lot of the mule deer carcasses had been scattered across the Park County Advanced, the place the library and different county buildings are situated, they usually all had broadhead wounds, in keeping with an affidavit from the Wyoming Recreation and Fish Division.
Native recreation wardens imagine they caught Wielhouwer within the act of poaching deer with a compound bow on the Park County Advanced on Sept. 4, however he fled the scene, in keeping with charging paperwork obtained by the newspaper. (The Park County clerk couldn’t instantly present the general public courtroom data related to Wielhouwer’s ongoing felony circumstances when contacted by Outside Life Tuesday.) Park County prosecuting lawyer Larry Echile defined within the charging paperwork that Wielhouwer went on Fb shortly thereafter to submit, “Catch me in case you can.”
Wielhouwer would flip himself in simply 5 days later, nevertheless, after investigators tied him to the car that was used within the alleged crimes. Recreation wardens defined in an affidavit that they situated a silver Ford Fusion on the Park County Advanced on Sept. 4, they usually noticed an arrow contained in the car that matched one discovered on the advanced days earlier. They referred to as the Ford’s registered proprietor, who mentioned that Weilhouwer had been driving his car whereas he was out of city. And on Sept. 7, they obtained a warrant for Weilhouwer’s arrest.
Photograph courtesy Park County Sheriff’s Workplace
Wielhouwer turned himself in on Nov. 9 — his lawyer mentioned he flew again to Cody from Michigan to take action. He was subsequently charged with 18 misdemeanors: 9 counts of taking a recreation animal and not using a looking license and 9 counts of wanton destruction of a giant recreation animal. The state-recommended bail of $36,000 was equal to the restitution quantity Wielhouwer could be ordered to pay if convicted (at $4,000 per deer). Wielhouwer reportedly pleaded not responsible to these fees in September.
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However state investigators stored trying into the crimes, which led them to the useless cow that was discovered on a ranch north of Cody in Sept. 2023. The sport warden who responded to that incident discovered “holes within the carcass that gave the impression to be from an arrowhead,” in keeping with an affidavit submitted by the Park County Sheriff’s Workplace and purchased by the Tribune. The affidavit additionally included a ranch worker’s description of the autos he’d seen on the street that day, and one of many autos was a silver Honda with Michigan plates. Authorities say one other hunter reported seeing the identical car, and that Wielhouwer is the registered proprietor of a silver Honda with Michigan plates. Additionally they say they discovered a broadhead in Wielhouwer’s car that matched a bloody broadhead recovered from the ranch the place the cow was killed in 2023.
Wielhouwer stays on the Park County Detention Middle, and the Tribune experiences {that a} preliminary trial for the felony cost has been set for Nov. 19. The subsequent courtroom date for his misdemeanor trial is in early February. If Wielhouwer is ready to submit the $43,500 bond, Choose Darrah mentioned one situation of his launch is that he should relinquish his firearms, bows, arrows, and different weapons to his protection lawyer.
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