RICHMOND — A man has been arrested in the December killing of the "Hollywood buck," a legendary deer known around the country for its massive 29-point rack and a habit of appearing like a vision in the city's historic Hollywood Cemetery.
Jason Walters, 36, of Richmond was arrested Sunday and charged with 19 violations including illegal possession of wildlife, trespassing, failing to check and tag a deer, and littering, according to the state's Department of Wildlife Resources.
The charges also relate to two other bucks that authorities said Walters poached from a part of Richmond that includes neighborhoods, cemeteries and parkland. The charges are misdemeanors, said Maj. Ryan Shuler, deputy chief of law enforcement for the wildlife department, and a few of them carry possible jail time as well as fines.
Walters was released after his arrest, Shuler said. He could not be reached for comment Monday and it could not be determined if he was represented by a lawyer.
Shuler said that charges are also pending against a second man suspected of being an accomplice.
Walters had posted photographs of himself with a spectacular dead buck on the Star City Whitetails Facebook page last month, prompting hunters and wildlife photographers from Virginia and beyond to sound the alarm that they recognized the distinctive 29-point rack.
The deer was a carefully guarded celebrity in Richmond; many who photographed it concealed the location to discourage poachers. Residents in the Maymont section of Richmond — a collection of cottages on hilltops above the James River — estimated that the deer was about eight years old. They called him Prince, because he seemed to be the offspring of another legendary buck known as King.
Resident Lee Williams, who described the sight of Prince leading a small herd of deer through her neighborhood as an almost otherworldly experience, said Monday that she was glad to hear of the arrest. But she said it was no real solace.
"We can't bring back those beautiful lives and the beauty they brought to our community. There's no restitution for that," she said.
On Star City Whitetails, the arrest dominated conversation Monday, with dozens of comments piling up from followers: "Good job." "Wonderful job." "Greed over common sense." "Unfortunately the punishment won't be nearly severe enough."
Hunting with firearms is illegal in the city of Richmond and in the cemeteries where Prince was known to roam. Investigators — including from the Richmond and Chesterfield County police departments as well as officials with Hollywood Cemetery and the James River Park System — spent "countless hours" in the investigation, according to a news release from the wildlife department.
The investigation involved executing 10 search warrants, and officials recovered two sets of antlers — including from the Hollywood buck, the news release said. Shuler declined to specify where authorities think the killing took place or where the pieces of evidence were recovered, citing the ongoing case.
"This was a very extensive investigation that required a very significant amount of our resources," Shuler said. "It's obviously one of the most high-profile poaching cases I've seen in my career and I've been with the agency 18 years."
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