A former Uintah County couple found guilty of multiple instances of poaching elk and deer will serve jail time for their crimes. Among other charges, William August Thompson faced 13 felony charges of Wanton Destruction of Protected Wildlife which he pleaded Not Guilty to in October. In
January, 7
of those charges were Dismissed with Prejudice in 8th District Court and 6 charges were changed to Guilty as part of a plea agreement. The jail sentences totalling 40 years were suspended. Thompson was sentenced to serve 75 days in Uintah County Jail in 2-day increments on weekends. The jail service must be complete by
March 27th, 2019
. He was placed on 36 months of supervised probation and ordered to pay $15,600 dollars in restitution to the Help Stop Poaching Fund. Williams in not allowed to have a hunting permit during the probation period and probation will continue until restitution is paid in full. William’s wife, Jennifer Lynn Thompson, faced two charges of Wanton Destruction of Protected Wildlife to which she pleaded Not Guilty in October and entered Guilty pleas as part of a plea agreement in January. The jail sentences totalling 2 years were suspended and she was sentenced to serve 10 days in Uintah County Jail in 2-day increments. She was placed on 2 years of probation and ordered to pay $1,150 dollars in restitution to the Help Stop Poaching Fund. She is to complete her jail time by
June 30th.
The Division of Wildlife Resources takes poaching seriously as one of the first wildlife agencies in the country to institute a toll-free wildlife violation report telephone line. You can report wildlife crimes by calling
1-800-662-3337
. The hotline is staffed 24 hours a day, year round. Poaching can also be reported on
www.wildlife.utah.gov
.
