BLOOMINGTON – A Magoffin County man has been charged in connection with having six foxes in his possession without a permit.
According to the citation from Kentucky Fish and Wildlife, Kentucky State Police had been requested to assist U.S. Probation and Parole on a search at the home of Gregory Howard, 49, of Salyersville, with a detective advising Fish and Wildlife several foxes in cages had been located on the property.
Howard advised Fish and Wildlife that six foxes had been purchased from someone in Manchester and that his brother had transported them from Manchester to Howard’s residence on Bloomington Road.
According to the citation, all six foxes were euthanized on site and disposed of off site.
KRS 150.280 states the following:
(1) Except as provided by administrative regulation, a person shall not propagate or hold protected wildlife without obtaining a permit to do so from the department. The department shall promulgate administrative regulations governing all such activity and prescribing permit fees. Any permit issued pursuant to this section may be revoked for a violation by the holder thereof of any of the provisions of this chapter, any administrative regulation of the department, or hunting, fishing, or wildlife laws of the federal government.
(2) The department shall by administrative regulation identify species of wildlife potentially damaging to native ecosystems and shall prohibit the transporting or holding of these wildlife.
Howard is scheduled to be arraigned in the misdemeanor case on April 18 at the Magoffin County Justice Center.
Howard is currently on probation for a 2017 federal drug case after he took a plea deal to three years in prison for possessing a quantity of pills containing hydrocodone with the intent to distribute, with the original five charges holding a statutory punishment for his charge is imprisonment for not more than 30 years, a fine of not more than $2 million, and a term of supervised release of not less than 6 years. At the time of the 2017 arrest, he was on probation for a 2013 case where he also pleaded guilty (via a plea deal) to one count of distribution of oxycodone and sentenced to time served and three years supervised release. The charge in that case carried a maximum sentence of not more than 20 years imprisonment, $1 million fine and three years supervised release.
While it is known from the Fish and Wildlife citation against Howard that his residence was searched by state police and probation and parole officers, no other information is known concerning any other pending or possible federal or state court charges, his probation status, or the nature of the investigation outside of the foxes.
Editor’s Note: The indictment or charge of a person by a grand jury or otherwise is an accusation only and that person is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
