A final settlement has been reached in a Fayette County case that began in July 2007 with two search warrants served in Oelwein by Iowa Department of Natural Resources game wardens on the residences of Steven Chad Brockmeyer and Roy William Brockmeyer.
    Roy Brockmeyer, 52, of Oelwein recently pleaded guilty in the Fayette County Magistrate Court to six counts in relation to illegal activity involved in the case of illegally trafficking in turtles.
    The charges included unlawful possession of wild turtles, failure to report harvest of turtles for commercial use, taking turtles with no commercial turtle license, untagged commercial turtle traps, improper or no tagging of turtle taking gear, and unlawful taking of turtles.
    He was also charged and pleaded guilty in Fayette County District Court to unlawful commercialization of wildlife, and received a one year suspended jail sentence with credit given for time already served.
    In a court decision earlier in the year, Steven Chad Brockmeyer, 35, also of Oelwein pleaded guilty to similar charges in relation to the same activity.
    Total fines, costs and damages in the case for the two will approach $4,400, plus court ordered forfeiture of all seized items including turtle meat, turtle traps, nets, hoop nets, a freezer, turtle gaff hooks, turtle shells, scales for weighing meat, butcher knives, and many other items seized in the search warrants.
    In addition, records of conviction on the charges will be sent to the DNR in Des Moines, and a total of violation points will be tallied under Iowa’s DNR Habitual Offender Rules to determine the length of suspension of DNR license privileges assigned to the defendants. Suspensions of DNR privileges in Iowa will mean DNR privilege suspensions in other states as well.   
    According to Dave Elledge, Iowa DNR game warden assigned to Fayette County who was the lead officer in the cases, “this was a lengthy and exhaustive investigation and case, and I am glad it has been resolved.” 
    Elledge further stated, “I would also like to thank the citizens of Fayette County and Wisconsin who saw fit to report the violations, as well as other neighboring DNR wardens and fisheries biologists in northeast Iowa for their invaluable assistance in the case. A thank you also goes to Mike Cross, Wisconsin DNR game warden, who was no small part of the case, and whose assistance and investigative abilities lent valuable evidence to the case.”
    The cases were prosecuted by Nathan Lein, assistant Fayette County attorney.