Former LDWF enforcement agent pleads guilty in Delta NWR poaching case

11-point buck illegally shot in January, 2016, according to reports

A former enforcement agent with 15 years experience for the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries pleaded guilty earlier this month to violating game laws on Delta National Wildlife Refuge near Venice, according to media reports.

According to nola.com, U.S. Fish and Wildlife agents said Robert “Boozie” Cosse Jr., 40, of Port Sulphur, who worked for the LDWF from 2001 through Jan. 1, 2016, set up a stand and feeder on a secluded area of the refuge to attract deer and hogs. Federal agents said Cosse and friends illegally hunted on the 48,000-acre refuge with firearms during the 2015-16 season.

The website reported that agents watched on Jan. 17, 2016, as Dean “Dino” Ockmond Jr, 36, of Vacherie, shot an 11-point from the stand. Ockmond and Cosse then moved the dead buck, which made the incident a violation of the federal Lacey Act.

On May 16, Cosse pleaded guilty to 16 misdemeanor wildlife violations, including illegal use of bait to hunt deer or hogs on a refuge, illegal use of a motor vehicle on a refuge, illegal hunting of deer or hogs during a closed season on a refuge and illegal use of a firearm to hunt deer or hogs on a refuge. According to nola.com, he was fined almost $9,000 and forfeited an ATV and tractor he used to illegally traverse the refuge.

The court placed Cosse on probation for three years, and forbade him from entering any NWR or engaging in any type of hunting activity during that time.

Ockmond was fined $2,025 and agreed to forfeit the mounted 11-point buck to the government. The court also placed Ockmond on probation for two years, and also forbade him from entering any NWR or engaging in any type of hunting activity during that time.

Cosse will not lose any of the state retirement he earned while he was an enforcement agent because no felonies were committed on the refuge, the website reported.