Nonresident Hunter Defrauds State

A nonresident hunter, who has masqueraded as an Idaho resident for at least the past nine years, was finally caught this fall near North Fork. In October 2000 Officer Tony Latham checked three elk hunters at the Deadwater boat ramp. The three had one elk in possession that was legally tagged by one of the hunters, an Idaho resident. All three hunters including nonresident Frank Diaz produced Idaho resident licenses as well as resident elk and deer tags. The hunter's camp, however, consisted of a motor home with Oregon license plates. When questioned, Diaz claimed that the motor home belonged to his wife who had moved from Idaho to Oregon the previous year. Further investigation revealed that the vehicle tag for the motor home was registered to both Diaz and his wife in Oregon. Officer Latham also discovered that Diaz had a valid Oregon driver's license and that an Idaho driver's license issued to him in 1995 had expired in 1999. When confronted with this information, Diaz confessed to not having lived in Idaho for nearly twenty years. The Idaho address and phone number he used belonged to his son who has since moved from the state. A check of the Fish and Game records showed that Diaz had purchased resident hunting licenses since 1992. Unfortunately, such records are not kept prior to that year. As a result of Diaz's misrepresentation of his residency, the State of Idaho was defrauded at least $4,680.00. However, Frank Diaz of Central Point, Oregon will be making restitution through the fine of $5,010.00 he received when sentenced on February 27, 2001. His hunting privileges in Idaho have been revoked for 7 years and he will be serving 42 days in jail. And since revocation of hunting privileges is reciprocated in a number of western states, Diaz will not be able to do much hunting anywhere for some time to come.