Dare County man sentenced, fined in two waterfowl hunting incidents in December 2017

Umphlett gets seven days in jail, $2,530 in fines for variety of misdemeanor charges

A Dare County man was sentenced last week to seven days in jail and fined more than $2,500 after pleading guilty to 10 misdemeanors relating to two incidents over a period of 11 days last December in which he confronted and threatened four hunters in a lake in the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in Hyde County.

Jarrod Thomas Umphlett of Manns Harbor also had two 45-day jail sentences suspended, was given an 18-month probation, lost his hunting license for two years, was ordered to write a letter of apology to all four hunters and undergo a psychological evaluation. He had two felony assault charges dismissed as part of a plea agreement,

Umphlett pled guilty to eight misdemeanor charges — communicating threats, simple assault, injury to personal property, unlawful harassment of persons taking wildlife and operating a boat in a reckless manner — related to an incident on the afternoon of Dec. 16, 2017, when he was alleged to have rammed his boat into a boat in which Clark Purvis of Roanoke Rapids and Richard Edwards of Wilmington were riding, scouting for ducks, in Swan Creek Lake in Hyde County. According to the arrest report, Umphlett threatened Purvis and Edwards, boarded their boat, punched Edwards twice, tried to remove the outboard motor from the boat’s transom and throw it overboard and repeatedly yelled at them using racial epithets.

Purvis runs Roanoke River Waterfowl and is a cousin of Gov. Roy Cooper. Edwards is a member of the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission.

Those eight charges carried the 7-day jail term and fines, restitution and court costs totaling $2,030, plus a 45-day suspended sentence, suspension of Umphlett’s hunting license for two years and a prohibition against participating in any hunting-related activities for two years.

He also pled guilty to four misdemeanor charges of communicating threats and unlawful harassment of persons taking wildlife relating to a Dec. 27, 2017, incident in which he was alleged to have threatened and harassed Larry Gammon of Plymouth and his teen-aged son, Wesley Cole Gammon, for hunting in the same lake where he confronted Purvis and Edwards. He was fined $500.

Umphlett’s father, Wayne Thomas Umphlett of Manns Harbor, pled guilty of one charge of unlawful harassment of persons taking wildlife, received a prayer for judgement continued and ordered to pay $180 in court costs. He was in the boat with his son when the Dec. 27 incident took place.

Click here to read the original article about the two incidents.

About Dan Kibler 887 Articles
Dan Kibler is the former managing editor of Carolina Sportsman Magazine. If every fish were a redfish and every big-game animal a wild turkey, he wouldn’t ever complain. His writing and photography skills have earned him numerous awards throughout his career.

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