Judge Won’t Restructure Jail Sentence For Poacher

A Stevens County man who was convicted last year in a large-scale poaching case was told this week he will have to complete his jail term.

District Court Judge Pam Payne denied a request by Rodney J. Schurger, 21, of Chewelah, to convert the remainder of his four-month jail sentence to work-release. Schurger has been serving the jail time in four-day increments.

So has Daryl Kuk, 21, of Addy, who was sentenced to nine months in jail last July when he and Schurger and five of their relatives made a plea bargain with the Stevens County prosecutor’s office. The group had been charged with 56 game-law violations. The bulk of the charges were filed against Kuk and Schurger.

Originally charged with 30 counts, Kuk pleaded guilty to five counts of hunting out of season, two counts of wasting game meat and one count of failure to have a game tag. In addition to the jail time, Kuk was ordered to pay $15,866 in fines and civil penalties.

Schurger originally faced nine counts and pleaded guilty to three: illegal hunting, spotlighting and shooting from a road. He was ordered to pay $3,200.

, DataTimes