Two fishermen accused of illegally stuffing their fish with weights at a tournament on Lake Erie last September have pleaded guilty to cheating charges, months after previously maintaining their innocence in the highly-publicized matter.
Jacob Runyan and Chase Cominsky pleaded guilty on Monday to a felony charge of cheating and a misdemeanor for unlawful ownership of wild animals, according to the Associated Press. The plea came as part of an arrangement with Cuyahoga County (Ohio) prosecutors and came at the last minute before the two anglers were set to be put on trial in Cuyahoga County Court on Monday.
Cheating allegations against Runyan and Cominsky first emerged on Sept. 30 of last year when The Herald out of Sharon, Pa. reported that tournament officials at a Lake Erie Walleye Trail Championship event discovered lead weights and fish fillets inside of the walleye that the two anglers submitted for the tournament. The competition director grew suspicious of the weight of the walleye and cut open the fish in front of an increasingly angry crowd.
