The proprietors of Fox Appraisal, a Gig Harbor real-estate appraisal company, called the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife on Dec. 7, to report a suspicious phone message, according to a search warrant affidavit.
On the message, a man stated that “he possessed a North American Woodland Red Fox and he wanted an appraisal on the animal,” because he could no longer keep it.
The man who left the message said in a phone interview Wednesday that the call was a prank, and he was not trying to sell a fox. “I was just doing a kind of play on words, a ‘your refrigerator’s running’ kind of thing,” he said.
On the phone message, the caller stated “I illegally trap a lot of foxes within the area and along the border of Oregon...”
Also according to the affidavit:
A Fish and Wildlife officer decided to return the call, posing as a party who was interested in purchasing the fox. The man who answered the wildlife officer’s call gave a false name, “Jacob.”
“I told Jacob I would be interested in the animal, depending on its condition,” reads Officer Tony Leonetti’s affidavit. “I asked Jacob if he had any other type of wildlife that he could sell. Jacob told me that his brother Jake had recently taken three spotted seal pups from the shore and took them home.”
The prank caller told The Olympian in a phone interview that he assumed the Fish and Wildlife officer who was posing as an interested buyer was actually someone with Fox Appraisal and they were “pranking” him back.
He added that he decided to play along.
Officer Leonetti tried unsuccessfully to set up a meeting with the alleged poacher. During phone conversations, the officer was able to agree on a price for the fictitious fox and three seal pups – between $250 and $300.
Leonetti learned the name and address of the caller and obtained a search warrant for his home on Lake Lucinda Drive in Thurston County. Leonetti drove by the residence Dec. 9.
“I observed two Honda sedan vehicles parked in the driveway and a white pull-behind cargo hauler in front of the house along the street,” reads the affidavit. “I also observed what appeared to be animal carriers.”
The search warrant affidavit requested permission to take any live or dead foxes or seal pups from the residence, along with traps and photos of illegally trapped or killed animals, “in printed or digital form.”
The wildlife officer’s inventory of items seized from the residence reads simply, “nothing taken, nothing searched.”
The caller said the officers were quickly able to ascertain that he did not poach or deal in illegally trapped exotic animals.
Fish and Wildlife Region 6 Capt. Dan Brinson confirmed Wednesday that the investigation did not reveal any illegal animals, and that the initial call to Fox Appraisal was a hoax.
Brinson added that his office has forwarded its report to the Thurston County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Thurston County Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Jim Powers said he was unaware of the incident, and he could not comment on whether criminal charges of any kind would be possible in such a case.
Officials at Fox Appraisal Inc. could not be reached for comment Wednesday.
The man who made the prank call said during a phone interview with an Olympian reporter that he was apologetic.
Jeremy Pawloski: 360-754-5445 jpawloski@theolympian.com
