A Colorado man who poached a bull elk in southeast Utah will pay $5,500 in fines and restitution, according to a news release from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.

On Feb. 24, Doug Vert of Montrose pleaded guilty in the Seventh District Court to one count of wanton destruction of protected wildlife (trophy elk), a third-degree felony.

Judge Lyle Anderson sentenced Vert to pay a fine of $1,500 and restitution of $4,000 to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, and to a prison sentence not to exceed five years. The prison sentence was stayed upon payment of the fine. The penalty was reduced as part of a plea-bargain agreement because of Vert’s cooperation.

The rifle that Vert used was confiscated by the court.

Rudy Musclow, investigator in the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources’ Southeastern Region contacted Vert after a landowner reported that a trophy elk had been shot and left on the Redd Ranches in southeast Utah.

Vert confessed to the killing and described where he had hidden the rifle, about 150 yards from the elk. Vert said he was deer-hunting in Colorado when he shot the elk and that he did not possess an elk permit for either state.