7 News Belize

Rhaburn the Rower In Trouble For Out of Season Game Meat
posted (May 26, 2015)
Jerry Rhaburn, he's known as a former champion of the La Ruta Maya Belize River Challenge. But tonight, he's in trouble with police, the Fisheries Department, and the Forestry Department for illegal deer and Hicatee hunting.

According to reports, Rhaburn is a game meat dealer, and those departments have been tracking him for some time. And, on Friday, they launched a raid at his mother-in-law's house in Burrell Boom Village. Officers found a Hicatee fresh water turtle in her refrigerator. Of course, Hicatee season is closed right now, and so it is illegal to possess it at this time. Officers then issued him with a warrant, and they took him back to his own house in Burrell Boom. When the officers searched his refrigerator, they found another Hicatee, and a full deer carcass, which he was not allowed to have since he didn't have a hunting license.

So, Rhaburn was criminally charged with the Forest and Fisheries offenses of possession of Hicateee within the Closed season, and illegal hunting without a valid permit. He will have to show up to court at a later date this month. That's on this instance, but authorities believe he is a major game meat dealer.

We understand also that when fisheries and Forestry first went after him, their information was that he had caught 3 deers and 38 Hicatee - but he wasn't found with anything close to those numbers.

Rhaburn was the winner of the 2010 and 2011 La Ruta Maya with the Ziprider team.

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