By KEVIN WALKER

Michigan Correspondent

MORLEY, Mich. — A deer rancher in Mecosta County is serving a 120-day sentence in jail for misleading authorities in an investigation related to chronic wasting disease (CWD) and for improperly maintaining his fencing.

The owner of the Super G Ranch, Lester Jay Gemmen, 64, of Morley, was sentenced to four months in jail because he didn’t let authorities know that he’d been behind on his CWD testing regimen, but instead took a couple of deer heads from a processor and claimed they were from his farm.

Lt. David Shaw of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) said the “court understood the seriousness of following the CWD protocol.” Gemmen is now serving his four-month sentence in the county jail. His wife did not respond to an email and telephone call from Farm World seeking comment on his behalf.

Shaw, who supervised the year-long investigation, said he didn’t know who the judge in the case was; however, Peter Jaklevic is the only judge listed on the county’s webpages for the 77th District Court, where Gemmen’s case was adjudicated. Gemmen was also fined $775 and ordered to do 80 hours of community service.

State Veterinarian James Averill said Gemmen had the bad luck of having two deer heads that turned out to be CWD-positive. Because of that, the authorities investigated the origin of the heads more aggressively and that’s how his deception was uncovered.

According to Averill, if Gemmen had just been honest and stated the situation as it was, then he might not have been prosecuted.

Deer ranchers who hold cervids at a private facility (POC) are required by the state to have some percentage of their deer tested for CWD. Deer that are tested have to be euthanized, however, Averill said only 25-30 percent of Gemmen’s deer might have had to be tested. As it turned out, authorities ended up testing all of Gemmen’s deer.

“Proper maintenance of POC facilities is critical to protecting Michigan’s free-ranging and privately owned cervid herds,” a DNR press release stated. Both Averill and the press release noted that Gemmen’s improper fence maintenance was part of why he was prosecuted and later sent to jail.

The DNR maintains its own police force and conducted the investigation. It’s not clear if Gemmen will be able to repopulate his ranch and eventually get his business going again. The ranch is currently under quarantine and there are no deer there.

In fact, Averill said Gemmen’s farm had already been under quarantine for other reasons when the investigation began. After the investigation reached a certain point “we found he was not being completely honest with us,” he said.

Shaw added that “we went to great lengths to confirm or deny what he was claiming.” The judge could have sentenced Gemmen for up to 180 days in jail.

Doug Roberts, president of United Deer Farmers of Michigan, said he felt bad for Gemmen, but that what he did makes the deer farming industry look bad. “The deer industry has had this happen over and over again,” he said.

CWD is a fatal central nervous system disease that affects whitetail deer, mule deer, elk and moose. It attacks the brains of infected animals, creating small lesions in the brain, which result in death, but it isn’t transmissible to humans.