Conservation Officers Ziegler and Sutton investigated information from a Confidential Informant regarding illegal trapping activity. The investigation led to a trapper being charged with "Trapping a river otter without a valid permit".

Conservation Officers Ziegler and Sutton, while on patrol of the Whittingham WMA, located a pile of trash dumped in a parking lot. A search of the trash came up with items that led them to a suspect. A subsequent interview of the suspect, led to a confession from the responsible party. The party was charged with "Dumping refuse on a Wildlife Management Area".

Conservation Officers Holmes and Sutton received a trespassing complaint from a gun club in Hillsborough Twp. The club provided pictures from a trail camera that clearly showed an individual carrying a rifle. An investigation uncovered the identity of the individual and an interview was conducted. During the interview the suspect admitted to hunting for squirrels with a .22 caliber rifle. The hunter was charged with "Trespass for the purpose of hunting", "Hunting with a firearm without wearing fluorescent hunter's orange" and "Hunting small game with a rifle".

CO Mascio and Lt. Lacroix received a complaint about possible illegal duck hunters in the Delaware River several weeks after the season had closed. While working the area, CO Mascio observed a hunter launching a boat from the PA shoreline and heading into the Trenton boat ramp. Upon inspection, the hunter admitted to deer hunting in PA without a PA license. CO Mascio charged the man with failing to number his vessel and failing to display a registration sticker. The man's information was turned over to the PA Game Commission who will be charging the man with hunting without a license.

CO Martiak represented the Division and the Bureau of Law Enforcement at the recent monthly meeting of the Middlesex County Sportsman Federation Meeting.

CO Martiak investigated a dumping complaint on the Assunpink WMA. The garbage had originated from a pet supply company in Ewing, Mercer Co. The owner of the company informed CO Martiak that she had placed an ad on Craig's List looking for someone to haul away the company's garbage because their transport vehicle had broken down. She agreed to assist CO Martiak by informing him when the man was going to return to pick up more garbage. CO Mascio and Lt. Lacroix assisted in watching the store and identifying the suspect. CO Martiak then placed a GPS unit in the garbage for the next pickup date. The garbage was then tracked after it was loaded into the truck. The suspect took the garbage to a transfer station in Trenton. CO Martiak made contact with the suspect. During the interview, the suspect admitted that on one occasion he couldn't dump the garbage at the transfer station so he drove to the Assunpink WMA and dumped it there. Charges for dumping on a State WMA and illegal transport of solid waste were issued.

CO Martiak observed a vehicle known to be owned by a revoked hunter parked in an area commonly used by hunters. CO Martiak observed the man exit the woods a short time later wearing hunting clothes and a backpack and carrying something wrapped in a camouflage jacket. The man put the object in the back of his vehicle. CO Martiak stopped the man and asked him what he had been doing in the woods. The man immediately stated that he hadn't been hunting, but that he had been working on his tree stand. The officer asked to look at what the man had put in the car and the man showed him a pair of bolt cutters. Inside the backpack was a large amount of cut copper wire. The man admitted under questioning to trespassing and stealing copper wire from the Hercules Property. The Sayreville PD was contacted and arrested the man for possession of burglary tools. The PD requested that Officer Martiak issue a summons for defiant trespass.

The Central Region Office received a complaint of a possible safety zone violation in Hamilton Township, Mercer County. Lt. O'Rourke responded and met with Hamilton Police Officers at the scene. The homeowner making the complaint provided the officers with a description of the hunters and their vehicle and the location where one of them shot. The homeowner said the hunters left the area when he attempted to confront them. The officers searched the area and found three untagged antlerless deer and three spent shotgun shells. The shells were 225 feet from the complainants' home. Meanwhile, a Hamilton Police Officer in another area of the township located a vehicle that matched the description of the vehicle provided by the homeowner. The officers went to the location of the vehicle and upon arrival, observed two hunters matching the description given by the homeowner walking towards the vehicle. When questioned they denied hunting the area where the complaint was made. Lt. O'Rourke asked to see the hunter's shotgun shells. The shells were identical to the ones found at the prior location. Lt. O'Rourke showed the hunter the spent shells and explained to him why he was being questioned. After some thought, he admitted that he had shot the deer. Lt. O'Rourke inspected the hunter's license and permit. He had a valid firearm license and a DMZ 14 shotgun permit. He did not have a permit for DMZ 17, the zone where he shot the deer. The appropriate summonses were issued.

Lt. O'Rourke received a call at the Central Region Office of possible illegal deer hunting in Millstone Township, Monmouth County. The caller explained the following. She heard a gunshot at 5 pm and thought it was very close to her home. She got into her vehicle and drove to the area where she thought the shot came from. She drove into a local park and saw two men standing next to a pick-up truck along the edge of a field. As she approached the vehicle, the men got in it and drove away. She was able to copy the license plate. She looked around the area where the truck was parked and found a deer that had been shot. She returned to her home and called in the complaint. Lt. O'Rourke told her he would meet her at the scene. Meanwhile he ran the license plate and found it was registered to an individual residing in Roosevelt, which borders Millstone. He contacted CO Mutone and sent her to Roosevelt. When Lt. O'Rourke met the complainant at the scene, the deer was gone. CO Mutone went to the address in Roosevelt and was told that the owner of the vehicle was out hunting somewhere. Knowing that the deer was gone, she then went to a local deer check station. She found the truck in the parking lot with a registered deer in the bed. Two men in hunting attire soon approached the vehicle. One of the men said it was his deer. CO Mutone explained she was investigating a deer hunting complaint. She asked them to take her to the location where the deer was shot. She followed them to a wooded area in Roosevelt. There was no evidence indicating a deer had been shot there. The hunter then admitted he shot the deer at the location in Millstone. He said he and his hunting partner were driving around looking for deer. He drove into the park and saw a deer standing off the road way. He stopped his truck in the road, got out, uncased and loaded his gun and shot the deer. The officers went back to the scene the following morning. They found pellet strikes in the vegetation indicating he shot directly at a road that was 400 feet from where he shot. Also, the location where the hunter said he shot was less than 450 feet from an occupied building. The hunter was charged with hunting with the aid of a motor vehicle, hunting within 450 feet of an occupied building and shooting from a road. He was also charged with careless discharge of a firearm because he shot directly at a heavily traveled county road, at rush hour.

CO Mutone was able to conclude the investigation of a stolen deer initiated in December. A hunter had left a message on the Central Region Office's voice mail saying someone had stolen his antlered deer taken on the last day of the 6-day Firearm Deer Season. He stated that police officers from Manchester Township in Ocean County may have taken his deer. CO Mutone contacted Manchester PD and was told that the caller was actually a suspect in the theft of a deer from a hunting club in their township. One of their detectives was in the process of getting a search warrant for the suspect's property. CO Mutone contacted the club member from whom the deer was really stolen. He took her to the gut pile of his deer to collect tissue samples. The police detective served the warrant and was able to collect several tissue samples. All of the samples collected were sent to the Northeast Wildlife DNA Laboratory at East Stroudsburg University. The Lab report just came back with a DNA match for the samples. Manchester will charge the suspect with the theft of the deer. CO Mutone charged him with presenting for registration a deer that he himself did not kill. He was also charged with transportation of a deer without written permission of the owner.