Posted on 11/18/2005 5:17:59 PM PST by Cagey
LEE'S SUMMIT, Mo. -- A Missouri fisherman is accused of cheating in a professional bass tournament.
Paul Tormanen, 39, of Lee's Summit, faces a felony charge of contest fraud. He's suspected of catching bass before the competition and tying them to a stump, then submitting them during a competition in Louisiana last week, reported KMBC-TV in Kansas City, Mo.
Another competitor found tethered bass and informed authorities, who marked the fish, the television station reported. Tormanen was then questioned when he allegedly turned one of the marked fish in to be weighed at the Bassmaster Tournament on the Red River.
Fisherman who know Tormanen are shocked by the accusation.
"I just talked to him a couple weeks ago and personally congratulated him on such a successful season last year," pro bass fisherman Shane Voyles said. "He won, you know, $40,000, $50,000, $60,000 last year just in the Heartland ProAm circuit -- that's a local circuit around here."
"It's a sad thing ... I get phone calls from friends, 'Man, can you believe this?' We all knew the guy," he said.
Voyles has won a big bass tournament himself, which included a $51,000 prize and a trophy. He's also a spokesman for Xtreme Marine in Lee's Summit, and he said Tormanen's fraud charge has him worried about sponsorships.
"It could hurt those of us out there that are trying to raise revenue to help pay for our sponsorship. I mean, they're going to look at this and say, 'Wait a second here, is this a cheating sport?'" Voyles said.
Tormanen has posted bond and was released.
KMBC went to the address listed on Tormanen's arrest record and found the front door ajar. A sign on the door read, "Welcome Home Dad, We Miss You." When KMBC rang the bell, someone slammed the door shut.
Paul Tormanen
That's bass-ackwards!
LOL! Very good.
Country boys can survive.
It all seemed rather fishy.
Next thing ya know, we're gonna find out somebody's been feeding the bass steroids. Y'know, a little of "the cream" and "the clear", some "flaxseed oil", maybe some "vitamin B-12 shots"...and you reel in a 45-pound bass with a gigantic head.
}:-)4
I wonder if the fish were co-conspirators? Were they paid off?
That there's a hangin' offense 'round these parts.
This happened some years back in an ice fishing gig on White Bear Lake. The prize was a high dollar pickup truck and the winner was found to have 'salted' a few fish on ice in his van, then pulled them out of his ice fishing hole.
LOL
How slimey.....
Leaving the fish in the shrink-wrap was probably a tip-off to the judges.
"Well, uh . . . the fish must have slithered off that tether you refer to . . . and gotten back in the water . . . and, and that's when I caught him! Yeah, that's the ticket!"
This guy is really floundering now -- he has to show his earlier victories were no fluke. Wonder if we'll ever know the reel truth?
Tethered Fish.
If you're not cheatin'...you're not tryin'
And if he is convicted, will soon be wearing stripers.
I wonder where on the 'prison respect ladder' such tournament cheaters fall.
You're right on that one, chum. They won't let him skate.
Perhaps, name it Barry "Bass"
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