Clueless guide sentenced for defrauding hunters

Bambi-basher · June 20, 2007

Feb 5th, 2007, 2:18am Clueless guide sentenced for defrauding hunters

Nikiski man deserted clients afield, never made trips, set himself on fire.

By BRANDON LOOMIS

Anchorage Daily News

Published: February 3, 2007

Last Modified: February 3, 2007 at 02:11 AM

KENAI -- Dozens of hoodwinked hunters bagged a measure of justice Friday in the case of the wilderness guide who set himself on fire because he couldn't work a camp stove.

Wally Dean Jackson Jr. of Nikiski was sentenced to two years in prison for misrepresenting himself as a hunting and fishing guide, defrauding sportsmen out of $100,000 or more. Kenai Superior Court Judge Harold Brown suspended another 9.5 years of prison time that Jackson could face if he violates terms of his 10-year probation.

In what troopers with the Alaska Bureau of Wildlife Enforcement called the most stupefying case of guiding fraud the state has seen, Jackson pleaded no contest to numerous counts including guiding without a license and scheming to defraud victims, some of whom he never met, even after they paid him.

Those who did meet Jackson soon regretted it, investigators said.

"His woodsman savvy is zero, but he tells everyone he's second to Jim Bridger," trooper Marc Cloward said after the sentencing, a reference to the 19th century mountain man of mythic proportions.

Consider the time that Jackson took clients into the woods and they reported that he couldn't figure out the stove -- ultimately breaking the outdoorsman's first rule of safety by dumping fuel on a flame, troopers said.

"Mr. Jackson had no idea how to use the cook stove, and when he tried to he set himself on fire," prosecutor Andrew Peterson told the judge during Friday's hearing. That anecdote drew derisive laughter from the 17 victims who had phoned in from Outside to hear Jackson's fate by conference call.

In the camp stove episode, the clients extinguished the flames, troopers said.

Once, according to the state, Jackson picked up an old pelvic bone from a moose and told clients who knew better that it was a moose skull.

Another time, Jackson met clients for a guided river trip and couldn't figure out which end of the raft was the front, according to the state's sentencing memorandum.

In other cases he allegedly took clients afield with inadequate food consisting of dehydrated meals and candy bars, with only one book of matches, and without securing the bear tags he had promised. On numerous occasions he was accused of offering to let clients illegally use his own tag if they killed a bear. Some clients, such as a few who accompanied him on a bear hunt at Cape Yakataga, reported avoiding him after the first day because they felt endangered around such an unskilled outdoorsman.

The trips occurred between 2002 and 2005, including after troopers began interviewing Jackson about complaints.

Jackson frequently operated around Cook Inlet and the Kenai Peninsula, though destinations were spread from Lake Clark to Cape Yakataga, where clients reported that they had to seek food from local residents.

Various clients sought bears, moose, salmon and other Alaska trophies.

In several cases, investigators said, Jackson brought clients to remote destinations and then left them, claiming his mother had a stroke or that there was a murder in the family. The clients made their own way back or sought assistance.

"He's lucky he didn't kill somebody, abandoning people in the field," Cloward said. "He's totally inexperienced and always biting off more than he could handle."

On a Web site that allows clients to rate guides, one from England who allegedly lost $5,000 when Jackson skipped out on his trip rated him "terrible" in several service categories, and "city slicker" for guiding experience.

In court Friday, the 37-year-old would-be guide apologized and said he meant to run an honest business.

"It wasn't my goal to defraud anybody," he said. "It is our full intent to repay the victims."

"Yeah, right," two of the victims on the conference call said, one after the other. Peterson, a prosecutor with the state Office of Special Prosecutions, said he doesn't expect Jackson will repay the money, but a judgment against him will help in case he ever has any assets.

There are 40 identified victims who paid a total of $117,000 for trips that either didn't happen or weren't as advertised, Peterson said. Credit card companies may have reimbursed some of their expenses, he said, and defense attorney David Mallet told the judge he believes the figure still owed is less than $100,000. Brown will impose a restitution order after the sides negotiate.

Mallet had no comment after the hearing.

Soldotna Dall sheep hunting guide Bob Hammer said he was both personally and professionally insulted by Jackson's crimes. He paid more than $1,200 at a Safari Club International fundraising auction for a Prince William Sound bear hunt that Jackson offered to the nonprofit hunting organization, he said. Jackson never provided the hunt, and Safari Club refunded the money.

Hammer said the case hurts his industry's image with clients who idealize the state.

"I know people save their whole lives to come to Alaska," he said. "Other than Africa, Alaska is the ultimate in hunting."

Judge Brown, whose courtroom art includes two brown bear etchings and a painting of ducks in flight, personally apologized to the victims on the phone.

"On behalf of the state of Alaska I apologize deeply," he said. "If it were within my power, we'd bring you all back here and demonstrate what a trip of a lifetime to Alaska can be."