Maryland Natural Resources Police Blotter

Allegany County – On December 2, 2010 at 1:30 pm., the Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) charged George Darrell Whetstone, 34 from Frostburg, Md with loaded weapon in a vehicle, shooting from the roadway, failure to field tag deer before moving it from place of kill and failure to report kill within 24 hours. NRP Officers responded to Old Legislative Road in Frostburg to investigate a complaint of a subject shooting deer from the roadway. Officers contacted Whetstone when he returned to retrieve an earlier shot deer. The investigation also uncovered a second deer that Whetstone shot on November 9, 2010 and failed to check into a designated check-in station.

Dorchester County – On December 3, 2010 at 3:30 pm., the Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) investigated a hunting accident that occurred on Buck Ridge Road, Wingate. Preliminary investigation revealed that Gerald Edward Merkle, 58 from Baltimore shot and critically injured his hunting companion, Darryl James Patrylak, 56 from Baltimore.

NRP found that Merkle was hunting from a ladder stand when he mistook Patrylak for a deer. Patrylak was not wearing fluorescent orange and was wearing camouflage clothing at the time of the shooting.

Patrylak was flown to Shock Trauma in Baltimore for treatment. The investigation is on-going.

Washington County – On December 1, 2010 at 9:40 pm., NRP charged Ricky Lee Moats, 48 from Boonsboro, Md with shooting from a paved roadway, hunting private lands without written permission, loaded weapon in a vehicle, failure to wear fluorescent orange and failure to possess/show hunting license. Officers responded to University Road about a complaint of illegal hunting activity and located an illegally killed white tailed deer. Officers located Moats as he was trying to retrieve the deer an hour later. During the course of the investigation it was determined that Moats was in possession of .22 magnum rifle that was reported stolen from Berkeley County West Virginia. The case is currently under investigation.

The Maryland Natural Resources Police is the enforcement arm of the Department of Natural Resources (DNR). With an authorized strength of 247 officers and a dedicated staff of civilian and volunteer personnel, the NRP provide a variety of services in addition to conservation and boating law enforcement duties throughout the State of Maryland. These services include homeland security, search and rescue, emergency medical services, education, information and communications services on a round the clock basis. NRP is the only police force aside from the Maryland State Police that has statewide jurisdiction.

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources is the state agency responsible for providing natural and living resource-related services to citizens and visitors. DNR manages nearly one-half million acres of public lands and 17,000 miles of waterways, along with Maryland's forests, fisheries and wildlife for maximum environmental, economic and quality of life benefits. A national leader in land conservation, DNR-managed parks and natural, historic and cultural resources attract 11 million visitors annually. DNR is the lead agency in Maryland's effort to restore the Chesapeake Bay, the state's number one environmental priority. Learn more at www.dnr.maryland.gov