Undercover IDFG operation busts local poachers
By CHANSE WATSON
Managing Editor
WALLACE — Jury trials are set to be scheduled for two Idaho men accused of conducting an unlicensed guided hunt in the Avery area of Shoshone County, in addition to illegally harvesting many animals out of season and/or without proper permits.
Francis (Frank) Bell, 34, of Estonia (originally Idaho), and David Bell, 65, of Avery, Idaho, went before Judge Scott Wayman on Monday and both plead not guilty to the myriad of wildlife related charges that are being put forth against them by the state of Idaho.
Documents from the Shoshone County Courthouse reveal that the father/ son duo were arrested on Oct. 21 by the Idaho Fish and Game (IDFG) Special Investigations Unit (SIU) upon the completion of a nearly three week long operation in which two undercover IDFG operatives posed as hunters/poachers and passively participated in an unlawful guided hunt in and around Avery.
Added into the mix were three Latvian citizens (Arturs Pencis, Aivis Zaviss, and Zalan Laszlo Bige) who had also purchased hunting services from the Bells at the same time as the undercover operatives.
In an affidavit requesting arrest warrants, submitted by IDFG Senior Conservation Officer, David Overman, the case against F. Bell and D. Bell began on Oct. 3 when SIU contacted F. Bell through email and phone to book a elk hunt for two individuals.
IDFG initially began the investigation after receiving reports that F. Bell was working as a guide without a license.
For a total of $3,000 ($1,500 per person), F. Bell agreed to take them.
The deal between the two parties was that he would provide “a hunting location, a cabin, a base camp, a remote back country camp, a wall tent, sleeping tents, food, a camp cook and wood cutter, the use of stock to transport gear, and detailed locations of animals” to the operatives.
D. Bell, who served as the camp cook and provider of transportation, also received $1,800 of the $3,000 for the use of his home in Avery.
On Oct. 8, the first day of the operation, IDFG operatives arrived at D. Bell’s home in Avery and spoke with both of them.
In conversation, the Bells told the operatives about several of the animals F. Bell has killed in the past including some that were displayed in the home as trophies.
Overman stated that, “all of these animals would be unlawfully taken due to the wrong class licenses purchased by Frank Bell.”
Three days later on Oct. 11, operatives reported that F. Bell and Pencis set out early in the morning with a thermal imager to hunt an area that F. Bell had already baited with horse meat to attract a bear.
F. Bell stated earlier that he obtained the horse meat by shooting one near Surveyors Ridge.
In addition to Pencis not possessing a lawful tag to hunt bears, F. Bell did not tag the horse as lawful bear bait, nor did he skin the animal- which is required by Idaho law.
Over the next six days, the five willing participants made it abundantly clear that their intentions were to kill any animal they could find.
Pencis, Zaviss, and Bige all used their cell phones to document the trip and even showed the operatives pictures of other animals they had killed around the world.
One video in particular showed Bige, “shooting a grouse from the center of a maintained road.”
Overman said that, “it was very obvious that they would photograph or video anything they killed.”
It was also believed that F. Bell had a camera with him as well and would transfer pictures from it to D. Bell’s laptop back at his home.
On Oct. 17, the Bells informed the operatives that Zaviss had killed a large bull elk two days prior near Surveyor’s Ridge.
They described the elk as a “6x6 with long tines that would likely score over 300 inches.”
F. Bell, Pencis, Zaviss, and Bige all participated in the hunt- “putting them all in possession of the unlawfully taken bull trophy elk.”
Neither Pencis nor Zaviss possessed elk tags.
F. Bell would later tell the operatives that Zaviss “had shot the bull elk four times with a 7mm rifle after calling it in to close range with an electronic caller.”
The use of an electronic caller to hunt elk is illegal in Idaho.
On the day of the arrests, F. Bell took the operatives out hunting near Dunn Peak Road to locate deer, elk, and moose.
He told the operatives, during the drive and while smoking marijuana, that the three European men had all killed something on the trip.
This included a doe shot by Bige (not tagged when seen hanging in D. Bell’s shop) and a small “spike” mule deer buck shot by Pencis (no tag).
IDFG claims that on their hunt with F. Bell, he offered to sell one of them his father’s moose tag for $2,000 after they located one.
This was on top of stating that he wanted to kill the moose himself and urged the operatives to shoot any buck they saw (knowing that they did not possess tags).
Following the hunt, IDFG executed a search warrant on the home and arrested the Bells.
Pencis, Zaviss, and Bige were arrested the following day at Spokane International Airport in Airway Heights, Wash.
The three Latvian men were all initially charged with one felony count of “Unlawfully Killing Possessing or Wasting of any Combination of Numbers/Species within 12 Months,” but then pleaded down to misdemeanor charges of, “Unlawful Taking of Game Animals, Birds or Furbearers,” and were sentenced to pay a fine.
All have since posted bail and left the county.
D. Bell is being charged with one felony count of, “Unlawfully Killing Possessing or Wasting of any Combination of Numbers/Species within 12 Months,” one misdemeanor count of, “Outfitting and Guiding Without a License,” and one misdemeanor count of, “Unlawful Taking of Game Animals, Birds or Furbearers.”
F. Bell is looking at one felony count of, “Unlawfully Killing Possessing or Wasting of any Combination of Numbers/Species within 12 Months,” one misdemeanor count of, “Outfitting and Guiding Without a License,” four misdemeanor counts of, “Unlawful Taking of Game Animals, Birds or Furbearers,” two misdemeanor counts of, “Unlawful Possession of Wildlife,” one misdemeanor count of, “Use or Possession of drug paraphernalia with intent to Use,” and one misdemeanor count of, “Possession of a Controlled Substance.”
D. Bell posted bail of $25,000 and F. Bell’s was set at $200,000.
In an interview with D. Bell conducted by IDFG after he was arrested, he explained that his son lives in Estonia and only comes back to his native Idaho “a couple times a year.”
Keisha Oxendine, Shoshone County Prosecutor, told the News-Press that even with the less-than-common circumstances surrounding this incident, she does not “feel as though this case is any more unique than other cases we deal with on a regular basis.”
She added that “these cases, like others within our office, are taken seriously.”
IDFG declined to comment on the incident, nor the court appearance, stating simply that it is an active case.
The News-Press will continue to follow this story.