Alaska man sentenced in illegal guide service case

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — A man has been sentenced to six months in prison for illegally selling big game guiding services, the Alaska U.S. attorney’s office said Wednesday.

Stephen Jeremy Hicks signed a plea agreement last year, pleading guilty to a Lacey Act violation. The document states that in 2018, Hicks sold conducted a guided hunt and that the hunt took place on federally managed land.

The U.S. attorney’s office in a statement said Hicks was not permitted to operate on those lands and that he violated state provisions related to supervision of clients in the field.

The statement said Hicks is from Anchorage. An office spokesperson said the final judgment in the case came last week.

Hicks also was ordered to forfeit his interest in a small plane and to pay $13,460 in restitution for the hunt, the statement said. He was also sentenced to three years of supervised release during which he cannot fly private aircraft or engage in commercial hunting activity, the statement said.