A few years ago the Missouri Department of Conservation paid out one million dollars as a result of a lawsuit brought about because two agents violated the law by entering a barn without a search warrant. Another agent has done the same thing, and added theft to a possible charge.
Back in October, Joe DeAngelo and his 17-year-old son went bowhunting on land he paid to hunt. His son shot a big buck with his bow late in the evening and they had to track the deer, finding it about 10:30 that night. It was a very big deer, with 19 points and wide-spreading antlers. He notched his tag and tried to call in the kill but was in an area where his cell phone wouldn’t work. He and his father loaded the deer and then called it in via the tele-check system the MDC has instigated. A little after midnight they took the deer into their workshop and began to cut up the meat because it was still 60 degrees. They left the entrails and hide and head in the pick-up bed.
A little later in the night MDC agent, Clair Burch, just walked in without permission and said she was going to write a citation to Joe DeAngelo for transporting an illegal deer. She said it was illegal because even though his son had correctly notched his tag she felt he had not done so soon enough after killing the deer, even though there was no evidence he had done anything improperly.
She took the hide and head and then went to a large cooler in the shop, opened it without permission and removed the venison it held. That is not legal either without a warrant. Burch told Joe DeAngelo that the meat and butchering of the deer was an admission of guilt. Joe pointed out that when it was that warm he would never let a deer remain unbutchered over night. Burch gave little credence to anything he said. It was obvious that she wanted that giant set of antlers and she was there for no other reason.
Taxidermists have told me that they mount deer heads of huge bucks for conservation agents who keep the mounts and the MDC pays for the work. One told me that he mounted a confiscated deer head for an agent who gave it to her friend as a Christmas gift. I was told by an employee of the Bass Pro Shop Taxidermy shop that they have mounted many confiscated deer heads for the MDC which were either sold to or given to Bass Pro Shops or one of Johnny Morris’ properties.
Here is a point I want to make… when the DeAngelo boy called in that deer kill in October, if it had been a regular set of antlers, only 6 or 8 points, Agent Burch would have never come to invade their property without a warrant. When he called it in the boy told how large the beam was at the base and how many points it had as hunters are required to do. She wanted it and I would bet she has been paid for it or will be soon, and that it is at a taxidermist shop right now. But I will also bet a thousand dollars that no one anywhere, including the governor himself, will ever know where that set of antlers is today or where it went when agent Burch walked out of the deAngelo’s shop with it. The MDC can defy a judge if they want, and never tell what happened to it.
The DeAngelo boy did nothing wrong, nor did his dad…. But they like others have the possibility of a lawsuit against the MDC for what has happened. Agent Burch entered their property with no warrant and searched a cooler illegally and effectively stole property with a false premise. She should be fired for what she did but she won’t be because agents are held to no standards at all. They consider themselves above highway patrolmen and elected sheriffs and they are treated that way by their superiors. Agent Burch broke the law, but that it is of no consequence to the Conservation Department.
The entire story doesn’t in there. Agent Burch was very smart. Soon after the incident in the workshop she had the charges against the DeAngelos dropped, depriving them of a day in court in which they might have been able to get the deer head back.
The family was forced to take their 17-year-old son to Juvenile Court, where he was not found guilty of anything in a matter of minutes, and the whole procedure they were forced into was therefore determined to be an admission of guilt again, and being used to keep them from knowing where the antlers are.
Where are the deer head and antlers now. I doubt that even the FBI could find it! I met with Chief of Enforcement, Travis Mclain, recently in his Jefferson City office, and then talked with him on the phone about what agent Burch has done. He has required Joe DeAngelo to fill out a two-page form before he will listen to me about what happened. And then Burch can receive no discipline that anyone can know about, because personnel matters cannot be discussed. If only the victims of MDC agents could receive such protections before a judge, however, I’m concerned that many are in the Department’s pockets. This kind of thing involving MDC agents happens often.
I have sent this magazine article to Mclain and MDC director, Jason Sumner, asking them to enter their own comments, allow me to interview agent Burch, or to correct anything they feel is not accurate here. If there is a lawyer anywhere who feels he can help the DeAngelos find the antlers he might call me at 417- 777-5227 or email me at lightninridge47@gmail.com
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