A Lutak man who was charged with falsifying his residency for fishing and hunting privileges said this week that wildlife trooper Ken VanSpronsen brought the charges after a failed attempt to buy the man’s house.
The state dropped 28 charges against James Puckett in March.
VanSpronsen was out of town this week but relayed a message that he had no comment on Puckett’s allegations. The state Department of Public Safety also did not comment.
Puckett said he would be holding a meeting next week at his house for “all people who have been questioned or charged by VanSpronsen with wildlife infractions they know are invalid or unjustified.”
In April 2013, the state brought 28 charges against Puckett, saying he used his Lutak address to acquire an Alaska driver’s license and various fishing and hunting licenses and tags between 2009 and 2012. The state’s case was apparently based on a claim in Puckett’s name for a homestead tax reduction in Shelby County, Ind.
But Puckett this week said the Shelby County assessor improperly included his name on the exemption. The property is held by his wife, Puckett said, and the assessor removed his name from the document in May 2013.
Puckett said he has spent $12,547 in legal fees to clear his name. “No one ended up challenging my residency… I would like a sincere public apology from VanSpronsen and my $12,547 back from him. He caused our expenses,” he wrote in a letter this week. In an interview, Puckett said he also would like troopers to conduct an internal investigation of the matter.
Puckett said he felt VanSpronsen “was mad about the real estate deal” and “criminally went after me.” Asked what evidence he had that the charges against him were related to VanSponsen’s failed attempt to buy his house, Puckett said: “I’m 64. When I went in (to see VanSpronsen) to get the charges, his demeanor was not good. He acted irritated and mad, and there was no call for that.”
Puckett said VanSpronsen made an offer on his house at Lutak through a real estate agent, and lived there temporarily, but reneged on the offer, and moved out. Puckett said he never met VanSpronsen until he went in to see the trooper about the 28 charges.
“There was no reason he couldn’t have called me up and said, ‘Let’s discuss this.’ We might have been able to clear it up,” Puckett said.
Puckett moved here in 1995. He said he and his wife spend about five months of the year here.