WILLOW -- As unlikely as it seems, a world-class collection of Alaska big-game trophies sits in the attic of the Willow Community Center, tucked between scrap lumber and heating ducts, out of sight.

On one wall, eight mounted Dall sheep heads hang close together in a surreal cluster, looking as if a herd of the sheep were bursting through the wall. Another storage room at the community center is home to a full-sized musk ox mount, which sits next to a full-sized mount of a brown bear swiping at a porcupine. The bear mount alone is worth more than $12,000.

At least that's what one buyer was willing to pay in an estate auction that went awry two days before it was set to close this summer. The proceeds -- an estimated $20,000 or more -- would have been donated to the Willow Community Center. The sale was called off in August after Alaska State Troopers got involved. Now, months later, the reasons behind that decision are at the center of a Federal Bureau of Investigation probe.

Before his death last New Year's Day, Brett McDonald, a 55-year-old Willow taxidermist and hunter, in his will left three dozen big-game trophy mounts to the Willow Community Center.

Because the community center didn't have room to display all of the mounts, an auction was arranged to sell 25 of them. The proceeds were to be donated to the Willow Area Community Organization under an agreement with the executor of McDonald's estate, Dan Donaldson.

But the sale never happened. Two days before bidding was set to close, Donaldson pulled the plug on the auction amid controversy over the legality of the sale. Donaldson had been in contact with state troopers prior to his decision.

Although FBI spokesman Eric Gonzalez said his agency can neither confirm nor deny any investigation, Jim Huston, chairman of WACO, said he received a phone call Wednesday afternoon from Special Agent Ron Bates of the FBI office in Anchorage. Bates was asking Huston about the troopers' role in stopping the sale.

Huston said Trooper Doug Massie called him before the auction closed and told him the sale was illegal. If he went ahead with it, Huston was told, he would go to jail. The sale of Alaska big-game trophies is prohibited under state law unless it is part of an estate sale and a permit is obtained from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game.

But Huston had a legal permit for the sale and authorization from Donaldson to conduct the auction. Huston said the auction was originally Donaldson's idea and he was just following instructions.

"In the presence of five witnesses, Donaldson authorized me to sell the mounts we couldn't keep," Huston said. "After he cleared it with Brett's mother, we decided to sell what we couldn't keep and donate the money to the community center. He gave me the permit and instructed me how to conduct the sale, giving me specifics, who we should make checks payable to, et cetera."

Then Donaldson left town on business and left the sale in Huston's hands. To this day, Huston has no doubt the sale was legal and would have gone smoothly if the troopers hadn't involved themselves in it.

After several phone calls from Massie, Huston called a state Department of Law attorney in Anchorage to find out whether the sale was, in fact, legal. Huston says the attorney told him it was.

That state attorney, Kevin Saxby, said in a phone interview that as long as the executor of a will gets the proper permit and arranges a sale, an estate auction of Alaska big-game trophies would be legal. He also said an executor may employ others to assist in the sale.

"There's no doubt in my mind that trooper involvement stopped this sale," Huston said. "And not because of legal issues, but because of a personal vendetta."

In the process of organizing the auction, Huston called nearly a dozen taxidermists in his efforts to ascertain the true value of the mounts. One of those taxidermists was Shawn McCrary of Adventures North Taxidermy in Palmer. When McCrary saw the mounts, he knew they were worth far more than Huston had been offered.

"I was just trying to help them out and give them an honest appraisal," McCrary said. "They thought they were going to get $6,000-$8,000 out of it, but I knew they could get upwards of $20,000."

At that point, Huston asked McCrary if he would be willing to find buyers for the action. The two men drew up a contract that stated if McCrary could get 50 percent more than Huston had been quoted, he would receive a percentage of the profits on commission for his work.

Sure enough, McCrary found bidders in other states and other countries who offered to buy the mounts at prices that reflected their true values. A man from Argentina bid $12,500 on the full-sized brown bear mount, Huston said. He anticipated WACO would receive well over $20,000 from the sale, even after keeping some of the mounts for display.

But when Massie contacted Huston, he had very specific things to say about McCrary, Huston said.

It turned out that Massie and McCrary had a history. In 2001, McCrary was charged with five misdemeanor counts of criminally negligent sale of big-game mounts. The charges were the result of a sting operation led by Massie.

But after 18 months of trials and hearings, the state reduced all criminal charges to violations. State prosecutors subsequently dropped four of those violations and Palmer District Court Magistrate David Zwink dismissed two others, saying they had the appearance of vindictiveness. McCrary is planning to file suit for civil-rights violations in connection with that case.

Huston says he believes Massie became interested in the auction only after he heard McCrary was involved.

"I feel that if it hadn't been Shawn McCrary helping us, if it had been someone else, then this wouldn't be an issue," Huston said. "Shawn has been treated very unfairly in all of this."

But Lt. Charlie Yoder with the Alaska Bureau of Wildlife Enforcement said Massie was simply responding to a call he received about the auction from an Anchorage Daily News reporter.

"If I had thought there was a personal issue between Massie and McCrary, I would have intervened," Yoder said. "Massie is a very professional trooper and he takes his work very seriously."

Massie did not return messages left for him Friday and Monday.

As the deadline for the auction approached, troopers stepped up the pressure to stop the sale. After troopers contacted Donaldson, he called Huston and told him to stop the auction, Huston said.

It is unclear if Donaldson stopped the sale because he believed it was illegal, or for other reasons. He was in China on a business trip last week and was unavailable for comment as of Monday morning.

But once Donaldson decided to stop the sale, it would have been illegal to proceed with it, Yoder said.

By stopping the auction two days before it closed, Donaldson effectively broke a verbal contract with the community of Willow, Huston said.

"It would have been easier for him to just let the sale go forward," Huston said. "It was already a done deal."

Huston and other volunteers from WACO had to transport all the mounts from Mountain View Sports Center in Anchorage back out to the Willow Community Center -- a time-consuming and difficult task.

"When the deal started to go sour, I told Jim [Huston] I would back out and take no payment if it would help the sale go through," McCrary said. "But it was too late."

Huston said he is disappointed that WACO missed out on the much-needed revenue from the sale.

"I told the community that we lost out on a lot of money, but we still have the mounts for display," Huston said. "It also increased my efforts to get the museum project going. The mounts will make good displays while artifacts are being collected and filed."

Meanwhile, McCrary is in the process of filing a formal civil-rights complaint against Massie and a civil suit against the state for damages.

On Oct. 19, Retta Randall, an attorney with the U.S. Attorney's Office in Anchorage, contacted the FBI regarding McCrary's case and forwarded information about the case to the FBI office in Anchorage. Deborah Smith at the U.S. Attorney's Office said they are not allowed to comment on cases under investigation, or confirm or deny any investigation.

"It's a shame these mounts are tucked away in an attic," Huston said last week. "I just wish the controversy surrounding them would go away."

Contact John Davidson at john.davidson@frontiersman.com.