ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) - Three residents of Maine will pay hefty fines after pleading no contest to multiple charges of illegal outfitting and illegal bear baiting.
Lester Conklin, Marie Conklin and Jason Conklin -- all of Patten, Maine -- entered pleas yesterday (Monday).
Lester Conklin also pleaded no contest to killing a grizzly bear without a guide and unsworn falsification.
He was fined $44,000.
Marie Conklin was fined $18,000 and Jason Conklin was fined $8,000.
Jail time for all three was suspended but their hunting, guiding and baiting privileges in Alaska were suspended for five to 10 years.
Alaska State Troopers say the Conklins operated a lodge in 2005 and 2006 at Donkey Creek Lake 44 miles southwest of Talkeetna, outfitting clients with black bear hunts over bait.
Troopers say the Conklins did not have a commercial big game guide-outfitter license and operated bear bait stations too close to their lodge.
Troopers say they also used sport-caught fish as bait. | 
