Scales of justice: Two Ohio anglers are INDICTED after 'cheating during Lake Eerie Walleye Campionship by stuffing their catch with lead weights'

UK Daily Mail ^ | October 13, 2022 | James Gordon

[C19fan]

Two anglers accused of stuffing fish with lead weights and fillets in an attempt to win thousands of dollars in an Ohio fishing tournament were indicted on Wednesday on charges of attempted grand theft and other counts.

Jacob Runyan, 42, of Broadview Heights, Ohio, and Chase Cominsky, 35, of Hermitage, Pennsylvania, were indicted in Cleveland on felony charges of cheating, attempted grand theft, possessing criminal tools and misdemeanor charges of unlawfully owning wild animals.

The pair are due to be arraigned October 26.

[Bob434]

You can bet that anglers stuff baitfish down the gullet of their catch to Increase the weight too.

[mmichaels1970]

Cheating in a sporting contest is a bit different from robbing a bank.

Tell that to the guy who took second place and missed out on bringing home prizes from 10k to 30k.

[mmichaels1970]

But, what about indictments for Hunter, Brandon, Hillary, the corrupt FBI, BLM and all their enablers burning down cities and profiting off of wars and misery.

I'll let the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor know to get right on that.

[bantam]

“Cheating in a sporting contest is a bit different from robbing a bank.

Tell that to the guy who took second place and missed out on bringing home prizes from 10k to 30k.”
______________________________________________

THIS!

[HereInTheHeartland]

The authorities are fishing for a crime in this situation.

[mmichaels1970]

The authorities are fishing for a crime in this situation.

LOL. Defense attorney claims that this is all just one big "fishing expedition".

[roving]

It was a $10,000 prize if I remember. Kinda makes it a big deal

[HereInTheHeartland]

Seriously, they are charging them with a felony?
For cheating in a fishing contest?

I guess going after murderers must get old.

[SamAdams76]

These guys got caught live on video in front of dozens of witnesses. Cops are supposed to ignore that because of political corruption in Washington? This may be the dumbest take ever.

I agree with you. I remember my mother telling me that kids were starving in Africa in order to shame me into finishing my broccoli. I might have been seven years old but already smart enough to realize that whether I ate the broccoli in front of me or not, it would have no impact on kids starving in Africa.

Same with this situation. Arguing that blatantly cheating fishermen should not be prosecuted so long as there is still corruption in Washington is just a silly argument to make.

For those who haven't clicked through to see the video of the cheaters being exposed, I highly recommend it. Click here for video. The shame and humiliation of being exposed in front of your peers like that is priceless to watch. The video shows one of the cheaters standing helplessly by as the official pulls weight after weight out of the bellies of the fish, all the time the other fisherman are shouting epithets at him.

This would have made a perfect Southwest Airlines "Wanna get away?" commercial.

[Ol' Dan Tucker]

I cannot remember a previous case of cheaters in a sporting event being charged with crimes.

Just happened in 2019. See: Bass fisherman charged with fraud for allegedly cheating during tournament

And, again in 2020. See: After winning a fishing contest, two Louisiana men accused of cheating, arrested on fraud

[jagusafr]

Felony cheating? Been a prosecutor for 37 years and never ran across that particular offense. Fraud, certainly - grand larceny, no question.

[fidelis]

Or Twain’s story of The Celebrated Jumping Frog.

First thing I thought of too, except in that story, the cheater sabotaged the competition’s frog with lead pellets rather than trying to enhance his own.

[mmichaels1970]

Seriously, they are charging them with a felony? For cheating in a fishing contest?

The felony is for theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars. And if you're the person who went home from those contests empty-handed, they stole it from you. They should absolutely prosecute these guys for felony grand larceny.

I guess going after murderers must get old.

Last I heard they still do that.

[mmichaels1970]

Felony cheating? Been a prosecutor for 37 years and never ran across that particular offense. Fraud, certainly - grand larceny, no question.

I guess it's an F5 here in Ohio. Basically based on how much monetary gain is made based on that cheating. If I cheated you out of $50 or something, it's a misdemeanor.

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office has the charges as follows:

One count of Cheating (felony of the fifth degree)
One count of Attempted Grand Theft (felony of the fifth degree)
One count of Possessing Criminal Tools (felony of the fifth degree)
One count of Unlawful Ownership of Wild Animals (misdemeanor of the fourth degree)

Ohio Revised Code 2915.05 - Section 2915.05 | Cheating - corrupting sports.

If the potential gain from the cheating is one thousand dollars or more or if the offender previously has been convicted of any gambling offense or of any theft offense, as defined in section 2913.01 of the Revised Code, cheating is a felony of the fifth degree.

[GOPJ]

I’ll bet they’re both democrats who voted for Biden.

[HereInTheHeartland]

“The felony is for theft of hundreds of thousands of dollars. “

The prize in a fishing contest is hundreds of thousands of dollars?! For a FISHING contest?
Wow .

People really need to get a life.

[mmichaels1970]

The prize in a fishing contest is hundreds of thousands of dollars?! For a FISHING contest?

That's a separate argument that can be made towards professional "sports" in general. Professional fishing is not new.

From what I've read, the first place take in this particular fishing contest was around $37k. Currently this particular contest is all they're currently getting charged for. However, they have been suspected of cheating in numerous events over the years which can easily tally up into the hundreds of thousands.

The fact remains that they entered a contest and cheated other honest and honorable competitors out of potential earnings.

We may think this particular sport is kind of dumb. I do. But the fact remains that a theft occurred.

[HereInTheHeartland]

“We may think this particular sport is kind of dumb. I do. But the fact remains that a theft occurred. “

Agree.
And agree it’s a separate issue of how sports in general have gotten way out of hand.
Honestly I feel it’s part of our cultures decline, but just my opinion .

[pas]

It is not their fault that all their fish were eating lead weights. Anyone could have caught those fish. What we really need is an investigation on why there are so many weights sitting around for the fish to eat. /s

[for-q-clinton]

They are being charged with larceny.

I guess you never heard of the black sox.