A Wasilla hunting guide pleaded guilty last week to several charges related to illegally guiding clients on hunting and sport-fishing trips, wasting fish and illegally taking a moose in a closed season, Alaska Wildlife Troopers said.
Troopers said they began investigating John Paoletti Sr. in 2012, following a report that he was providing unlicensed fishing trips out of Whittier through his Wasilla business.
In August of that year, Paoletti took troopers, operating undercover, on a guided fishing trip. Then, in June 2013, he took the same undercover troopers on a guided black bear hunt, also based out of Whittier.
After that hunt ended, troopers seized a Hewescraft boat used in both trips, along with all the equipment on the boat, cash and an iPhone.
During the investigation, troopers determined that Paoletti had also killed a small bull moose in his yard with a bow and arrow during a closed season in October 2011.
Paoletti pleaded guilty on four counts. He was fined $30,000 with $18,000 suspended, ordered to forfeit his boat, barred from hunting and fishing for two years and sentenced to probation until 2020. He was also ordered to pay $1,000 in restitution for killing the moose.
Troopers did not immediately respond to additional questions about the case.