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The two suspects, both residents of New Jersey, were apprehended on Saturday, Nov. 16 in connection with an incident that happened in November 2023, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation announced earlier in December.
According to NYSDEC officials, on the day of the incident, Environmental Conservation Officers Palmateer and Smith responded to a Lexington residence after a homeowner captured a deer being shot and collapsing in his driveway with a Ring camera.
The video also showed two suspects backing a black pickup truck into the driveway before finishing killing the animal. They then loaded the deer into the truck and drove away, officials said.
Authorities then commenced a months-long investigation to narrow down the vehicle to a pickup truck registered to a New Jersey resident.
On Nov. 16, the opening day of the 2024 Southern Zone regular firearms season, Palmateer and Smith found this truck parked along the road at a public hunting property in Lexington. They then followed it back to a nearby hunting camp where they identified the driver as the same person in the Ring camera footage.
Officers soon found the other suspect at the hunting camp as well.
Both suspects admitted to illegally shooting and killing the deer in the driveway the previous year. They were both charged with:
- Possessing a loaded firearm in a motor vehicle;
- Taking a deer from a public roadway;
- Discharging a firearm within 500 feet of a dwelling;
- Illegally killing a white-tailed deer;
- Failing to properly tag the deer.
Officers also found an untagged seven-point buck back at the hunting camp which resulted in another charge for failing to tag deer.
Days later, on Friday, Nov. 22, the suspects, whose names were not made public, pleaded guilty in the Town of Lexington Court and paid fines totaling $2,500.
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