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Paint bombed trespasser

Ohiosam

*Supporting Member*
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Mahoning Co.
Leroy Ogin, 73, said he has been walking this trail to get to his deer hunting grounds for the past 61 deer seasons.

An elderly deer hunter who was sprayed with paint while trespassing on a neighbor’s property on opening morning of the 2013 Pennsylvania deer season has had the charges stayed by the State. The charges will most likely be dropped in early August if he does not have further complaints filed against him. In another twist, the landowner who set the paint bomb was also ticketed in the incident — on charges of criminal mischief and criminal harassment for allegedly rigging up a trip wire that was attached to an explosive device that discharged a paint bomb on opening day of Pennsylvania’s 2013 gun-deer season.

By Daniel E. Schmidt

Leroy Ogin, 73, told Deer & Deer Hunting on Monday that he had been hunting the property near his home in Luzerne County for the past 61 deer seasons without incident. While admitting he was technically trespassing, he said he did not intend to hunt that property; instead he was using an old logging road to gain access to a spot he has hunted for decades.

“I was 8 feet onto his property,” Ogin told D&DH. “I’ve walked that trail hundreds of times over the years. He never said I couldn’t walk there.”

WATCH VIDEO OF THE INCIDENT

As evidenced in a YouTube video shared on Deer & Deer Hunting yesterday, Ogin is shown via a trail camera walking through the wooded area when an explosion occurs. He is stunned, and then the video shows him wiping a substance from his face, body and gun expelled from a device attached to a tree trunk. He said the substance was paint.

Ogin said the explosion came from the explosive device being wired to an automobile an air bag mechanism wired to a switch that set off the paint bomb attached to a suspended wire.

“I thought I was shot with a gun,” Ogin told D&DH. “I then realized I had paint all over me. It was a permanent-type of paint. It ruined my hunting uniform, my hat, my gun … everything. I walked back to the house — about a quarter-mile — my wife thought I was shot, too, because the paint was red.”

No Prior Warning?
Ogin said the landowner did not confront him that day or any day prior to inform him he could no longer use the logging road to access his hunting spot.

“About a week and a half later, I get a summons in the mail for trespassing,” Ogin said. “And I also find out that this video is on the YouTube. I don’t have a computer or anything like that, so I didn’t know anything about a video.”

“I was 8 feet onto his land,” Ogin continued. “He never said I couldn’t walk there — like I have done for many, many years. The only time I’ve ever talked with him was the year before when I was on the other neighbor’s land and he came up from behind me and said, ‘You’re getting pretty close (to the line) don’t you think?’ He never said a word (about staying off the logging road).”

Proceedings in Process
The ticket against the landowner, 53-year-old Michael Condoluci, is scheduled for later this year with the Luzerne County Magistrate’s Office, according to the district court office.

Ogin also told D&DH that he didn’t know the logging road was off the property line and that he would have stayed off the logging road had Condoluci asked him. He said the other landowners in the area freely allow hunting and walking access to deer hunting areas.

Condoluci could not be reached for comment.

As for his setback during this last opening morning hunt, Ogin said it did not deter him from continuing to hunt.

“I went back out later that day,” he said. “I still had red paint all over my glasses and in my beard, but that wasn’t going to stop me.”

According to a clerk at the district court office, Ogin’s trespassing ticket was issued at 9 a.m. on Dec. 2, and Condoluci’s tickets were issued at noon that same day.

The clerk said Ogin’s ticket was placed on hold beginning Feb. 12 and lasting for six months. She said normal procedure is the ticket will be dismissed after 6 months if no other charges are brought against the party. She said the same scenario would likely hold true in the case for Condoluci. His charges were placed on hold beginning May 7, also for a period of six months.

Deer & Deer Hunting’s Web team will continue to cover this story and provide updates as they become available.



- See more at: http://www.deeranddeerhunting.com/a...t-landowner-also-charged#sthash.PYw6rpSl.dpuf
 

cotty16

Dignitary Member
Supporting Member
Well, when I initially watched the video, I figured this guy was habitual and confronted before and the landowner used one final last measure to rid the trespasser. I guess I assumed too much. After hearing his side, the landowner went too far too soon. The landowner should've definitely talked with this dude before extreme measures.

Thanks for posting the full story Sam. Always two sides...
 
I agree cotty! It's one thing to be a young smart ass on your first offense but the guy's been doing it for decades without anyone asking him to stay off. I'm curious if the current landowner has owned that plot of land for that same length of time or if it's a recent buyer. Either way it's probably best to just get the evidence and make the trespassing report.
 

Ohiosam

*Supporting Member*
11,708
191
Mahoning Co.
This is PA, not sure if it's changed but it used to be you could hunt any ground not posted. There also could be a legal precedent that the logging road that crosses a property line and has a long history of use that constitutes an easement.

Interesting anyways, I can see both people's points.
 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,743
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North Carolina
If the landowner has told the guy that just because you've done it for years and it's not ok anymore and he continued, it would of been heavy handed and with possible legal ramifications.... But if the landowners just did it without warning like he said? Completely different story line then..... Regardless a visit would be made too the owner.....
 

Buckmaster

Senior Member
14,362
191
Portage
The guy in the video did a have a warning with the no trespassing sign hanging there. I had to look for it but it was in the video. Took 5 steps beyond it and POW!

We heard the same thing from our locals when we bought our lot in 1999. "I've been hunting here since I was a kid."
Our reply, "Sorry, with time, things change."
 

Jackalope

Dignitary Member
Staff member
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So what I hear from mr paint is. "I've been doing it for years, nobody told me I couldn't, I'm just passing through." None of which makes trespassing legal. I feel bad for the guy because he was blindsided without warning. But there is an easy way to prevent that. Don't be places you aren't suppose to be and you won't have to worry about it. I do think it's BS the landowner got charged. He didn't injure the guy. To me it would be the same as if he hung a new fence and the guy walked in to it. That the guys fault. Not the landowners. Notice the guy never said he had permission where he was going to hunt. Just that he hunted there. I bet he doesn't have permission there either.
 

"J"

Git Off My Lawn
Supporting Member
56,743
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North Carolina
The guy in the video did a have a warning with the no trespassing sign hanging there. I had to look for it but it was in the video. Took 5 steps beyond it and POW!

We heard the same thing from our locals when we bought our lot in 1999. "I've been hunting here since I was a kid."
Our reply, "Sorry, with time, things change."

Agree Ben but if they hadn't warned the old timer about not doing it when he's been doing it forever hen there's my issue with it..... Still heavy handed in my book....
 

finelyshedded

You know what!!!
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SW Ohio
Well, when I initially watched the video, I figured this guy was habitual and confronted before and the landowner used one final last measure to rid the trespasser. I guess I assumed too much. After hearing his side, the landowner went too far too soon. The landowner should've definitely talked with this dude before extreme measures.

Thanks for posting the full story Sam. Always two sides...

Ditto to all the above!
 

brock ratcliff

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I think the paint bomb is shear genius! I also think painting your neighbor without warning is a dick move...but it's still funny, unless of course you're the gent on the receiving end. :)
 
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I agree it's a little to much, but I laughed so hard I nearly pissed myself. He is lucky he didn't add some skunk extract to it!
 

Bigslam51

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Supporting Member
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Stark County
It doesn't matter how long he's been walking that trail. If there's a no trespassing sign up then he should of known better. Maybe the landowner recently put the sign up and the old man continued walking the trail and landowner got fed up with his ass. IMO the landowner shouldn't have to talk to the guy, a no trespassing sign should be enough.
 

bthompson1004

Member
1,238
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NWOhio!
After my crappy season last year on a new property (lots of tresspassing) I have heard a lot of different excuses...they are all the same though and none of them justify why they were somewhere they didn't have a signed permission slip for...thankfully, each tresspasser I was able to talk to hasn't been back since (that I know of)....the landowner prefers that I distance myself from these situations (take picture of license plate and send to him) but if he is ok with it, then I am comfortable telling someone to get the hell out of here.

We even posted no hunting signs and I had one tresspasser tell me "we weren't hunting, we were just looking"...I even asked him, "so for 20 years there weren't any signs, one week the signs were up, and you didn't make the connection that someone didn't want you here?" The sad part was, at the end of the conversation I found out he is a vet with only one leg and his grandkid was driving him around the property in a gator...I still told him thanks for his service to this country, but don't come back here.
 
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He is plenty old enough to know better, I have had a couple incidents with trespassers, nothing pisses you off more than sitting in your stand and seeing a guy walking in on your land and blowing a shooter buck out at 8:30 in the morning! Yea he got his ass chewed off!! Haven't had a problem since.
 

RedCloud

Super Moderator
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North Central Ohio
So what I hear from mr paint is. "I've been doing it for years, nobody told me I couldn't, I'm just passing through." None of which makes trespassing legal. I feel bad for the guy because he was blindsided without warning. But there is an easy way to prevent that. Don't be places you aren't suppose to be and you won't have to worry about it. I do think it's BS the landowner got charged. He didn't injure the guy. To me it would be the same as if he hung a new fence and the guy walked in to it. That the guys fault. Not the landowners. Notice the guy never said he had permission where he was going to hunt. Just that he hunted there. I bet he doesn't have permission there either.
It doesn't matter how long he's been walking that trail. If there's a no trespassing sign up then he should of known better. Maybe the landowner recently put the sign up and the old man continued walking the trail and landowner got fed up with his ass. IMO the landowner shouldn't have to talk to the guy, a no trespassing sign should be enough.

Agree with you both. If I owned a good size woodlot and couldn't be there to watch every inch of ground every second of every day then I would think the signage was plenty warning to stay off the property. I shouldn't have to drive/call to your house and tell you what you have already read on the signs. Anybody in law enforcement will tell you "ignorance is no excuse" and if your breaking a law your going to get what you get.

I don't know the rules in PA but the guy also had 2 firearms while hunting.