New Mexico
Department of Game and Fish Media contact: Lance Cherry, (505) 476-8003 Public contact:
(888) 248-6866 lance.cherry@state.nm.us
FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE, APRIL 8, 2015:
Clovis man pays $8,110 for catching 160 times his limit of trout
CLOVIS – A Clovis man convicted of illegally possessing more 1,600 trout
– more than 160 times the limit -- agreed to pay $8,110 in civil penalties
after accepting a plea agreement.
Bounchanh Bounsombath, 63, was arrested in May 2014 after Department of
Game and Fish conservation officers seized the trout during a search warrant at
Bounsombath’s home. Bounsombath admitted to catching all of the fish at Green
Acres Lake and Denis Chaves Pond in Clovis. Most of the trout were in
one-gallon zip lock bags containing two to four trout per bag. All of the trout
had been salted and dried before being frozen.
Under the plea agreement in Clovis Magistrate Court, Bounsombath pleaded
guilty to 10 charges of exceeding the bag limit and one count of unlawful
possession of rainbow trout. He also was placed on five years of supervised
probation.
The case was initiated in 2013 by an anonymous call to Operation Game
Thief. Bounsombath was cited for exceeding the bag limit and unlawful
possession of trout. In May 2014, the Clovis district officer began covert
surveillance of Bounsombath after he noticed Bounsombath spending a great
amount of time at the lakes.
Bounsombath was observed fishing on at least 20
different occasions at both lakes over a three-week period. During most of
those occasions Bounsombath caught and kept more than the daily bag limit of
five rainbow trout. Licensed anglers may keep five rainbow trout per day and
have 10 in possession at any given time.
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