Jacob Runyan, 42, and Chase Cominsky, 35, were indicted in Cleveland on felony charges of cheating, attempted grand theft, possessing criminal tools and misdemeanor charges of unlawfully owning wild animals. They face up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine on each of the three felonies. The misdemeanor is punishable by up to 30 days in jail and a $250 fine.
“I take all crime very seriously, and I believe what these two individuals attempted to do was not only dishonorable but also criminal,” Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley said Wednesday in a statement.
Neither Runyan, who lives in Ashtabula, Ohio, nor Cominsky, of Hermitage, Pa., immediately replied to requests for comment from The Washington Post. Court records do not yet list attorneys for the men.
The indictments stem from the Lake Erie Walleye Trail fishing tournament’s final championship competition on Sept. 30, when about 65 two-person teams spent eight hours trying to pluck five of the heaviest walleyes out of the Great Lake. Runyan and Cominsky, who made up one of the teams, appeared to have won the event in Cleveland, having submitted five fish that weighed in at nearly 34 pounds. That catch also would have secured them team-of-the-year honors — and nearly $30,000 — since they’d won three other tournament events in June, July and September.
But tournament director Jason Fischer told The Post in the days after the competition that he grew suspicious when Runyan and Cominsky’s catch was officially weighed and the scale topped 30 pounds. Eyeballing the entry, Fischer had estimated the five fish would have weighed about 20 pounds.
“It just kind of deflated me, because I just knew it wasn’t right,” Fischer told The Post.
Acting on his hunch, Fischer grabbed one of the fish and felt something hard in its stomach. He then cut open the dead walleye and made a startling discovery.
“We got weights in fish!” Fischer shouted, pulling out one of 10 weights totaling seven pounds that would be found in the catch. He also found several walleye filets — flesh from other fish used to beef up the entry, leading to the unlawful ownership of wild animals charge, which could result in the indefinite suspension of Runyan’s and Cominsky’s fishing licenses, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office said in its release.
As Runyan stood red-faced just a few feet away, Fischer disqualified him and Cominsky in dramatic fashion, according to a video from the Sept. 30 event that Fischer shared with The Post.
“Get out of here!” the tournament director barked, using a curse word to emphasize the point.
In a video posted to the tournament’s Facebook page last week, Fischer told viewers he was disgusted by what he discovered, calling it one of the most “dishonest acts the fishing world has ever seen.”
“I personally have never seen anything quite like this in competitive fishing,” Fischer said, adding: “The individuals involved here appear to have put greed and ego in front of anything else, forever tainting our sport.”
According to search warrant affidavit, Runyan and Cominsky were accused of cheating in April at a different walleye tournament in northwest Ohio, the Associated Press reported. Police investigated the allegations but a local prosecutor determined that, even though the men might have cheated, there wasn’t enough evidence to charge them, according to the AP.
After Runyan’s and Cominsky’s disqualification, tournament organizers contacted the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, spokeswoman Stephanie O’Grady told The Post earlier this month. Wildlife officers went to the event site, where they collected evidence and began working on a report for the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office.
On Tuesday, authorities in Pennsylvania seized Cominksy’s boat, a fiberglass Ranger Pro Fisherman model which he used at the Sept. 30 competition, from his home, the prosecutor’s office said.
Runyan and Cominsky are scheduled to be arraigned in Cuyahoga County criminal court on Oct. 26.