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Vermont Hunting Checkpoint Brings Surprise

Ripton, Vermont - November 15, 2009

Federal and state fish and wildlife officials found a little more than they bargained for during a routine hunting season enforcement operation.

Law enforcement agencies hold checkpoints during hunting season, in this case, off the beaten path, on a dirt road in Ripton. Sgt. Don Isabelle of the Vt. Fish & Wildlife Dept. told Channel 3, "We occasionally set up these road checks to kind of deter poaching violations from occurring. People know we're out here. We're also looking at other things."

Such as motor vehicle violations, and from time to time, illicit drugs. This time the police came up with a small amount of marijuana. The men told police they had no luck hunting and so they took a ride. Their motor vehicle stop ended with a citation to appear in court on a misdemeanor possession charge.

But then a car pulled up with a lone male at the wheel. He was not giving his name and it became apparent that the license plate was fake. The driver was briefly taken into custody. The U.S. Forest Service brought in a search dog trained to sniff out illegal drugs. When the dog got to the trunk, it let his partner know that he had found something.  

Finally, the man handed over a passport that police say checked out valid. But it also brought a warning over the police radio to be careful around him. Senior Game Warden Dale Whitlock explained, "When I ran it through dispatch, it came back with multiple convictions of driver's license suspended. And a caution. Sometimes dispatchers will issue a caution to us to use care."

Even the law enforcement people here called this a very unusual day, and we're not talking fish and wildlife violations. In addition to the pot bust, the car was suspicious enough, as well as its driver, to warrant further attention. The feds were expected to run the man's name through Homeland Security.

Our check of the Internet shows the man belongs to a group called the Embassy of Heaven, an elusive church group based in Oregon that renounces government, issues its own license plates, has been raided for non-payment of taxes and, according to the Anti-Defamation League, has ties to anti-government militias.

But police said they had no reason to arrest the man, and so he was let go and ran down the road in the direction he had been heading on foot. Police impounded the car and applied for a search warrant to find out what's in the trunk.

For state and federal lawmen it was all in a day's work.

Andy Potter - WCAX News