Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Official Newspaper of Eddy County since 1883
Charges have been filed after a videotaped altercation between a group of hunters and a local landowner went viral on social media.
The video was posted to YouTube by Jacob Sweere, a hunter from Minnesota who said he'd made a 7-hour drive to Eddy County for a duck hunt. Sweere was one of six hunters in the video, who can be seen shooting a number of ducks in the early morning hours of Friday, Oct. 21.
The group was set up along the property line of a harvested bean field, located in Lake Washington Township in eastern Eddy County.
Not long into the video, the landowner of an adjacent corn field, identified as Jeffery Erman, pulls up to the hunters in his vehicle and begins berating them, arguing they were touching his property and that they'd ruined his hunting plans for that morning.
As of Thursday, Nov. 3, the video had more than 1.8 million views.
On Wednesday Nov. 2, Eddy County State's Attorney, Ashley Lies, filed charges against the landowner as well as one of the hunters.
Erman's charges include trading in special influence, a Class A misdemeanor, as well as disorderly conduct and interference with rights of hunters, both Class B misdemeanors.
According to the criminal complaint filed against Erman, the trading in special influence charge stems from a moment when Erman tells the hunters he's going to call his "friend," the game warden.
"He then knowingly offered and agreed to accept three hundred dollars if the hunters would pay him, a direct amount he tried to get them to pay twice," the complaint alleges. "He told them this would be half the price of the fine and that if they paid him, he would call off the game warden."
For his profanity-laced and "abusive" tirade, he was charged with disorderly conduct, and because Erman allegedly disrupted the hunters' "lawful hunt" on purpose, he was charged with interference with rights of hunters.
Court documents describe one moment when Erman purposefully scared away some ducks that were landing nearby.
"Knowing the hunters were attempting to hunt ducks, the Defendant waited until several were landing within shooting distance of the hunters, drove his ranger quickly up to the property line, jumped out and yelled, 'YAHOO! We're hunting ducks!'"
The document adds, "Knowing his loudness scared away the birds, he then looked at the hunters and said, "sure would have been easier to get along, wouldn't it boys?"
Meanwhile, one of the six hunters, Dustin Wolf of West Fargo, was charged with criminal trespass, a Class B misdemeanor.
According to the criminal complaint filed against him, Wolf had received permission from an authorized agent for the landowner of the harvested bean field, but was told not to hunt near the property line unless given permission by Jeffrey Erman as well.
"Jeffrey Erman's land was posted electronically and physically," the complaint says. "The defendant knew his authorization to hunt on Grant Erman's land was restricted by the verbal limitations given to him and he knowingly set up on what he believed to be the line between the subject property and that of Jeffrey Erman."
According to court documents, the game warden for the North Dakota Game and Fish Department who responded to the incident, James Myhre, was given the complete unedited versions of Jacob Sweere's recordings from the altercation.
All compiled, the total time of the unedited videos amounted to approximately 1 hour, 6 minutes and 29 seconds, just over double the roughly 30 minute run time of Sweere's viral YouTube video.
As of Thursday, Nov. 3, none of the other five hunters had been charged.
Erman and Wolf's initial appearances are scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 10. Both are considered innocent unless proven guilty.
