Ohio Fishing Duo Charged With Cheating and Attempted Grand Theft

A month after a two-person fishing crew at an Ohio contest scandalized the aggressive fishing world when organizers stated they engorged walleyes with lead balls to extend their weight, a grand jury indicted each males on Wednesday on felony costs of dishonest and tried grand theft.

The pair, Jacob Runyan, 42, of Ashtabula, Ohio, and Chase Cominsky, 35, of Hermitage, Pa., additionally face one rely every of possessing legal instruments, a felony, and of illegal possession of untamed animals, a misdemeanor.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley stated in an announcement that the boys’s actions had been “not solely dishonorable but in addition legal.” Mr. Runyan and Mr. Cominsky couldn’t be reached for touch upon Wednesday, and it was unclear who their authorized illustration was or if that they had any.

On Sept. 30, the pair participated within the Lake Erie Walleye Path event in Cleveland, the place the indictment stated they “did knowingly have interaction in conduct designed to deprave the result” of the occasion.

Opponents had been tasked with capturing 5 of the heaviest walleye fish in Lake Erie, and the winner was to be decided with a weigh-in. Mr. Runyan and Mr. Cominsky approached the dimensions with fish considerably heavier than what was commonplace, Jason Fischer, the event’s director stated.

In a dramatic reveal on the weigh-in captured on video, Mr. Fischer prodded the abdomen of a walleye caught by the pair after which sliced the fish open to disclose its contents: a lead ball. Extra had been present in different fish offered by the 2 males.

“We acquired weights in fish!” Mr. Fischer exclaimed, to jeers from the group. Onlookers swiftly gathered close to Mr. Fischer to get a more in-depth take a look at the lead ball he brandished within the air.

In all, Mr. Runyan and Mr. Cominsky had stuffed their catch with ten weights, every one weighing both 8 or 12 ounces, in addition to “a number of walleye fillets,” the prosecutor’s workplace stated.

The pair had been disqualified and requested to depart. Had they positioned first, Mr. Runyan and Mr. Cominsky would have gained practically $30,000, the prosecutor’s workplace stated.

They got here in first place on the three earlier Lake Erie Walleye Path occasions in June, July, and September. Mr. Fischer stated on Wednesday that the pair had been “given checks for first place” however didn’t specify how a lot their previous winnings amounted to.

In a video posted on the event’s Fb web page final week, Mr. Fischer stated the dishonest scandal was “one of the disgusting, dishonest acts that the fishing world has ever seen in dwell time.”

“The people concerned right here appeared to have put greed and ego in entrance of the rest, perpetually tainting our sport,” he stated.

The Ohio Division of Pure Assets responded to the incident and carried out an investigation, the prosecutor’s workplace stated. The division declined to remark.

About two weeks after the event, native legislation enforcement executed a search warrant and seized a Ranger Professional Fisherman mannequin fiberglass boat and trailer belonging to Mr. Cominsky that was used within the event, in response to the indictment.

The boat is now being held by the state’s Division of Pure Assets, the prosecutor’s workplace stated.

If convicted, Mr. Runyan and Mr. Cominsky may resist a yr in jail and as much as $2,500 in fines for 3 of the felony costs. A conviction on the fourth cost of illegal possession of untamed animals, a misdemeanor, may set off an “indefinite suspension of their fishing licenses,” the prosecutor’s workplace stated, including that this cost stemmed from the walleye fish fillets that had been aboard on the day of the event.

They are going to be arraigned on Oct. 26, stated Anna Horne, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s workplace.