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One Defendant Enters Plea Deal in Largest Poaching Case

June 7th, 2022 by WCBC Radio

The Cumberland Times News reports another plea agreement that exchanged jail time for house arrest was made in West Virginia’s largest known deer poaching case that started earlier this year and includes eight defendants, three counties and nearly 30 illegally killed bucks.

Colton Broadwater, 24, of Keyser, in January was charged with 11 counts each of nighttime hunting and spotlighting, two counts failure to register deer, 14 counts illegal wildlife possession, eight counts conspiracy, nine counts hunting in closed season, 10 counts hunting from vehicle, five counts loaded firearm in vehicle, one count uncased firearm in vehicle, five counts trespassing, nine counts exceeding yearly deer limit and one count receiving or transferring stolen property.

He was released on a $27,000 bond.

On Monday, Broadwater was in Mineral County Magistrate Court where he entered a no contest plea in a deal that dismissed several counts, requires him to spend 160 days on house arrest