Gillnetters convicted in illegal whitefish haul

Posted by Nick Provenza


By Jefferson Robbins
The Wenatchee World

MOSES LAKE — Four men from King and Snohomish counties were found guilty this week of illegally taking almost 200 whitefish in December at Banks Lake.

Aleksandr Kashnikov, 45, and Sergey Mitsevich, 38, both of Everett, were convicted alongside Vladimir Savchenko, 36, of Edmonds and Peter Zhezhelev, 46, of Kenmore. Jurors took 40 minutes to convict them of unlawful use of a net to take fish and unlawful fishing in the first degree, both gross misdemeanors.

The group was caught by state Fish and Wildlife officers Dec. 5 while running a gillnet along the shore of Banks Lake. When confronted, they fled in their van, and the state officers pursued them until they were stopped near Douglas in Douglas County.

The fish and wildlife agents found several large bags of fish that had been dumped from the van along the roadway. The illegal take amounted to 194 whitefish caught with eight gillnets.

All are due to be sentenced Aug. 27. Grant County Prosecutor D. Angus Lee said Wednesday he will ask Judge Janis Whitener-Moberg to impose two months’ jail time on each man.

instead of 2 months in jail, how about send them back to Russia.

Nice! Do we still do stake burnings?

Only two months for the illegal fishing.....

But what about the felony eluding? Free pass?????