After a week of waiting, investigators received a full report from the Port Gamble S’Klallam tribe Monday night regarding allegations of illegal detention of hunters by two Port Gamble S’Klallam Natural Resources law enforcement officers.
State Department of Fish and Wildlife Deputy Chief Mike Cenci said the report came into his office just after 5 p.m. Monday and as a result, he expects the investigation that his office and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office are working on will take at least until the end of this week to complete.
“We’re still working on the investigation and trying to coordinate all the interviews,” Cenci said.
“We might have something at the end of this week, but I really think this is something that is going to be active into next week.
“We want to make sure we get all sides of the story.”
Both Cenci and Jefferson County Sheriff Tony Hernandez said the report would remain protected from public disclosure laws until their investigation was completed.
However, both said they intended to fully release their findings at the end of the investigation.
“If in the end it is determined that there is probable cause, it will be noted and forwarded to the Jefferson County prosecutor,” Cenci said.
“It will then be up to the prosecutor to decide if charges are filed.”
The Sheriff’s Office and Fish and Wildlife are working together following a complaint filed with the sheriff’s office by Adam Boling of Brinnon on Oct. 5.
Boling said that he, his 2-year-old son and two friends — Don Phipps and Danny Phipps, both of Shelton — were detained illegally by law enforcement agents of the Port Gamble S’Klallam tribe’s natural resources department at gunpoint while they were hunting on private property near Brinnon on Oct. 3.
Jurisdiction questioned
He questioned the jurisdiction of the tribal officers to detain them in Jefferson County, and their right to detain them for so long.
Port Gamble S’Klallam Natural Resources Director Paul McCollum has said that his officers were acting properly.
Hernandez said Friday that an investigator with his office and a wildlife investigator conducted interviews with witnesses and collected statements in Brinnon.
Boling said in his complaint that agents approached him and his friends screaming and with guns drawn, after Don Phipps shot and killed an elk under the conditions of a special permit and detained them for two hours.
Boling also said his 2-year-old son was left to wander around the area crying while the three men were detained.
The men were not cited.
Fully authorized
Cenci has said that the hunter was in an open area for licensed hunters with a special permit to hunt elk with a muzzle loader rifle, and that the hunter had a valid state hunting license.
McCollum has said the two officers were working as game agents under his department and not as tribal police.
Jefferson County Sheriff’s Sgt. Mike Stringer, who is a former officer with the Suquamish tribe, has said that all tribal officers have jurisdiction only on tribal land, or if they are dealing with tribal members or if they have a cross-commission from the sheriff.
The hunters who were detained were not Native American and the land near Brinnon — across Hood Canal from the Port Gamble reservation — is private property that is not tribal land, according to Boling.
Hernandez said the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribal Police do not have a cross-commission with Jefferson County.
McCollum said Thursday that his agency’s report had been completed and forwarded to state hunting officials, but he did not identify which office.
“The illegal hunting part of this is still under investigation, and we have sent it into the state for review,” he said then.
He declined further comment until later.
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Reporter Erik Hidle can be reached at 360-385-2335 or at erik.hidle@peninsuladailynews.com
