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2006 Troy Gentry Pleads Innocent In Unbearable Case

Troy Gentry pleaded not guilty in Duluth, Minnesota, to charges of illegally tagging a bear that he killed in a three-acre, fenced area. The paperwork and a doctored videotape suggested it was a wild animal.

In Novemeber of 2006 Gentry would plead guilty in U.S. District Court in Duluth to the misdemeanor crime of making a false label. The crime was punishable by a maximum penalty of one year in prison, five years’ probation and a $100,000 fine. He had been scheduled to stand trial, but reached a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, agreeing to pay a $15,000 fine and forfeit the mounted bear, the bow he used to kill the bear, and all hunting, fishing and trapping privileges in Minnesota for five years.

Gentry admitted setting up a hunting stand in a 3-acre pen that was surrounded by an electric fence. Dees told the court that Troy had registered the bear as being shot in the wild six miles east of town. The government alleged that his taking of the black bear in October 2004 was videotaped and later edited to appear as though he killed the black bear in a "fair chase" hunting situation. The indictment alleges that the bear was a "trophy caliber, tame/captive-reared" black bear.

A felony charge against Troy of violating the Lacey Act by transporting the bear from Minnesota to Kentucky and on to his home in Tennessee was dismissed as part of the plea agreement. The government alleged that Troy paid Sandstone hunting guide Lee Marvin Greenly $4,650 to shoot the black bear known as "Cubby" on Greenly's 80-acre Minnesota Wildlife Connection property, where he also operates a wildlife photography business. The indictment said that Greenly charges individuals about $750 per guided hunt.