After performing a necropsy on the fish, Texas game wardens discovered three heavy objects in the fish’s stomach, they explained in a Facebook post.
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这名钓鱼者柯蒂斯·李·丹尼尔斯(Curtis Lee Daniels) 被捕并被指控“钓鱼比赛欺诈”。 This particular crime is considered a felony because, in this case, Daniels is accused of violating the law during a tournament that offered more than $10,000 in prize money.
According to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department regulations, it is illegal to alter a fish’s weight “for the purpose of indicating that a fish entered in a tournament is the length or weight it was at the time it was caught.”
While in some cases this violation could result in a misdemeanor, the nature of Daniels’ alleged crime constituted a third-degree felony charge under Texas Parks and Wildlife Department regulations.
A crime under this section is a Class A misdemeanor, except that the crime is a Class A felony if the crime occurs during a tournament in which any prize or combination of prizes in any one prize category (whether the prize is awarded to an individual or a team) is worth $10,000 or more in money or items.
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In the Lake Fork Lure Co. tournament rulebook, organizers explicitly mention that anyone who attempts to artificially alter the weight of a fish “will be prosecuted under federal law.”