Tattoo Lead Wardens To Offender

Modern technology allows law enforcement new ways to target offenders and in a recent case, it had to do with tattoo identification.

Two Liberty County game wardens completed an investigation that began in mid-February of this year when they were notified about some potential hunting without landowner consent. A hunting lease member contacted the wardens when they captured a picture of a man on their game camera and on their property without permission. The picture was clear enough to see the very distinctive tattoos the man had. After a few weeks of talking to local residents, the wardens were able to identify the name of a possible suspect.

They ran the name through the Liberty County Sheriff’s Department to check for priors and they discovered that he had been through the system and they had pictures of his tattoos on record. After a quick comparison of the tattoos, the wardens had enough probable cause to get an arrest warrant for the suspect. He was soon arrested on the Class “A” Misdemeanor charge of Hunting Without Landowner Consent and a brief interview was conducted at the Sheriff’s department.  During the interview, the suspect admitted to the crime.  Case pending.

Not all cases involve tech. Some are just hard to believe, well at least the excuses offenders use.

Lubbock County game warden was traveling to Buffalo Springs Lake when he came across a group of five young men shooting skeet on a county road. While approaching the group, he noticed numerous empty shell casings on the road. When the warden questioned the group about what they were doing, one of the individuals admitted they were skeet shooting but did not know the owner of the field they were shooting across and into. At one point, a family member of one of the young men became frustrated and said, “we have done this for years.” Citations were issued to the individuals for Discharge of Firearm on Public Roadway and Trespass by Projectile.

Source: TPWD