COLUMBUS – A Holmes County man pleaded no-contest to five wildlife violations in Coshocton Municipal Court on Dec. 13 and was ordered to pay $27,904.46 in restitution, according to a news release from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR).

Junior L. Troyer, 43, of Millersburg pleaded no-contest to five charges including providing false information while game checking deer, attaching a game check number to a deer other than the deer it was issued to, taking more than one antlered deer in a license year, possessing deer or deer parts without an attached valid deer tag, and attaching an antlerless deer game check number to an antlered deer.

Judge Timothy L. France found Troyer guilty on all charges and ordered him to pay $150 for each charge and an additional $87 in court costs. Judge France also ordered Troyer to pay restitution to the ODNR Division of Wildlife in the amount of $27,904.46.

In addition, Troyer will lose his hunting privileges for one year. He will be entered into the Wildlife Violator’s Compact and most likely will lose hunting rights in 46 other states.

The non-typical trophy deer scored 228 7/8. The restitution amount imposed by the court is in accordance with Ohio’s revised restitution law for illegal taking of white-tailed deer.

Wildlife K-9 Finn and his handler State Wildlife Officer Jeremy Carter, assigned to Holmes County, located evidence that was crucial to this case. The ODNR Division of Wildlife has five K-9 teams throughout the state that are trained and certified to detect wildlife, gunpowder, and ginseng, and are certified in tracking, area searches, and article searches.

The ODNR Division of Wildlife encourages anyone observing or suspecting that wildlife violations are occurring to report illegal activity by calling the Turn-In-A-Poacher (TIP) hotline toll free at 1-800-POACHER (762-2437) or submitting information online at wildohio.gov.

All information received by the TIP program will remain confidential