Police Nab Poachers; Charge Crab Pot Thief

A month-long investigation across two counties resulted in 16 deer and turkey poaching citations being issued to an Anne Arundel County man, and other enforcement actions from the Maryland Natural Resources Police. 

Charges were filed Wednesday against Joshua Michael Sarro, 28, of Glen Burnie, who is due in Dorchester District Court on Aug. 17 and  Anne Arundel District Court on Aug. 19.

The investigation began in Dorchester County in April, when a citizen called to say he saw a man shoot out the driver’s side window of a Dodge pick-up truck toward a field. The citizen took a photo of the truck and its license plate and gave it to officers.

Officers went to Sarro’s home and saw a truck that matched the description with fresh blood, animal tissue and a plastic bag in plain view in the bed. They got a search warrant for the truck and  home.

The bag held a turkey carcass and the truck cab contained turkey calls and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.

Inside the home, officers found eight mounted deer racks. In the freezer, they found two additional turkey breasts containing shotgun pellets, which Sarro claimed were chicken breasts.

State records show Sarro, who holds a hunting license, has never checked in a turkey or deer.

Sarro was charged with: possessing the heads of eight bucks without reporting them to the department; failing to check in a sika deer; failing to check-in a white-tailed deer; failing to report the harvest of a wild turkey within 24 hours; failing to record the confirmation number for the harvest of a wild turkey on the Big Game Harvest Record; having a loaded weapon in a vehicle; hunting from a vehicle; shooting from a roadway; and hunting on private land without written permission.

Following up on complaints from the public about crab pot thefts in Dorchester County, officers set up surveillance earlier this month along Punch Island Creek near the Chesapeake Bay.

On consecutive days, they watched Duane L. Elliott, 52, of East New Market pull crab pots and conceal the marker buoy. Officers determined that the pots did not belong to him and charged him on Sunday with two criminal counts of theft, intentionally interfering with legal fishing and fishing crab pots belonging to another.

Elliott is scheduled to appear in Dorchester District Court on June 20 to answer for the criminal charges, and on Aug. 17 on the two natural resources charges. If found guilty of all four violations, he could be sentenced to as much as 18 months in jail and fined up to $3,000.

On Monday, officers charged two commercial fishermen with crabbing violations after checking the area near Hills Point in Dorchester County.

Windy Karpavage, 63, of Taylors Island, was charged with setting five crab pots in a restricted area.

John R. Abner, 52, of Chesapeake Beach, was charged with setting 37 crab pots in a restricted area.

They are scheduled to appear in Dorchester District Court on July 20. If found guilty, each fisherman could be fined up to $1,000.

While on patrol at the Bill Burton Fishing Pier in Talbot County on Sunday, an officer checking fishing licenses asked two men if they had caught any fish. One of them pointed to a bucket, which contained 10 striped bass.

Ming Chen, 38, of Clinton, and Yongsheng Guan, 33, of Germantown, received citations for exceeding the daily catch limit and catching striped bass in a closed area.

Both men are scheduled to appear in Talbot District Court on July 21. If found guilty, each man could be fined up to $3,000.

Two Garrett County men were charged in connection with an illegal turkey hunt in Oakland last Sunday.

Officers investigating a report of gunshots being fired on Cranesville Road were able to track a vehicle to a home off Sines Cemetery Road.

Zachary Scott Kish, 21, of Swanton, admitted to shooting at a hen turkey with a rifle from his vehicle. He was charged with hunting without a license and hunting from a vehicle.

During the investigation, another vehicle pulled up bearing the license plates registered to the suspect vehicle, which had none.

James Christopher Everhart, 27, of Oakland, was charged with driving on a suspended license, operating an unregistered vehicle and driving an uninsured vehicle.

The men are scheduled to appear in Garrett District Court on July 21. If found guilty, Kish could be fined as much as $3,000. Everhart’s penalty will be determined by the judge.