At long last, the notorious Lake Erie fishing tournament scandal has reached its conclusion.
More than six weeks after Jacob Runyan and Chase Cominsky pled guilty to a felony charge of cheating and a misdemeanor for unlawful ownership of wild animals, the duo was sentenced on Thursday at a Cuyahoga County court to 10 days in jail and 1 1/2 years probation, according to USA TODAY‘s Steve Gardner.
Judge Steven Gall also ordered the men to each pay a $2,500 fine, while felony charges of attempted grand theft and possessing criminal tools were dropped.
Runyan, 43, and Cominsky, 36, were accused of cheating after winning a tournament at the Lake Erie Walleye Trail Championship event last September. Shortly after their victory, a tournament official cut open their winning fish and discovered the pair had added weights to them. That led to their disqualification, and forfeiture of the approximate $28,000 prize for first place.
In addition to their jail sentence, Runyan and Cominsky also had their fishing licenses suspended for a maximum of three years, and were forced to forfeit the boat they had used during the tournament—which had a valuation of approximately $130,000.
“There’s seemingly endless public humiliation for these guys,” defense attorney Gregory Gentile said, per Gardner. “These guys are going to have to suffer this forever; when they go on a date, when they find a job. When they get Googled, this case is gonna show up forever.”
