Valley hunting guide enters not-guilty plea

PALMER — A Valley big game guide pleaded not guilty Thursday in Palmer District Court to 18 counts of criminal activity stemming from an investigation by Fish and Wildlife Protection.

Mark P. Meekin, 44, is facing 12 charges of unlawful acts by a guide, including failure to report a violation and aiding in the commission of a violation. Additionally, six charges of failing to accompany nonresidents during a hunt were also filed. The charges, filed in Palmer District Court in March, are Class A misdemeanors.

According to court documents, the investigation began after Alaska State Trooper investigator Mitchell Doerr received a complaint on Sept. 15, 2000, that Meekin allowed his nonresident clients to take Dall sheep without being accompanied by him in the summer of 1998 and 1999.

The tipster, who was not named in the complaint, provided the names of two Oregon hunters who allegedly were allowed to hunt by Meekin without a guide.

During the investigation, several other out-of-state hunters were contacted who had apparently hired Meekin as a guide, according to court documents.

In November, investigators traveled to Oregon and interviewed the two hunters identified by the undisclosed informant.

According to charging documents, the hunters told troopers that neither Meekin nor his assistant guide were present during their sheep hunt in August 1999. The two hunters also said Meekin left them alone for two days without a guide.

Meekin later claimed in an interview with troopers he had left the hunters alone for one day, saying he felt confident the clients could judge a legal sheep and would be safer traversing the terrain.

Two more hunters who said they had hired Meekin as a hunting guide in 1998 alleged to troopers that the big game guide failed to accompany them.

One hunter told troopers he killed a grizzly bear and a Dall sheep without Meekin present. Meekin was allegedly one mile away and out of sight when the grizzly was taken and a mile away when the sheep was shot.

The hunter's partner told troopers he also shot a sheep without Meekin helping him in the spotting, stalking or judgment of the animal's size, according to court records.

In a Dec. 14 interview with troopers, Meekin allegedly acknowledged he was several hundred yards to one mile from the hunters during the hunts, charging documents.

Meekin told troopers he can control the hunters from those distances, court documents stated. He also said he felt the regulation for big game guiding is not set up so hunters have to be chained to their guide.

While state law does require nonresident hunters to hire a registered guide when hunting in Alaska, the statute does not specifically indicate how close to the hunter the guide is required to be.

Meekin's defense attorney, Brent Cole of Anchorage, said he has just started reviewing the case.

"We're looking at the charges and the police reports and will be making a decision in the future after we look at the basis for the charges," Cole said.

Assistant Attorney General Eric Aarseth, of the Office of Special Prosecutions & Appeals, was not available for comment on Friday.

A trial was set for June 27.