Moose parts lead wardens to 2 suspected AWOL Marines

Sunday, November 11, 2007

SKOWHEGAN - A truck full of moose parts Thursday led police to a pair of men accused of being absent without leave from a military base.

Maine game wardens arrested Ross P. Carroll, 19, and Howard Button, 22, who are currently assigned to Camp Lejeune, N.C. The two are believed to be on unauthorized leave from the Marine Corps. Carroll is originally from Searsport and Button from Quinlan, Texas.

Each was charged with two counts of night hunting and three counts of illegal possession of moose. They were arraigned Friday and returned to the Somerset County Jail.

Early Tuesday morning, Warden Ralph Hosford responded to a complaint from Border Patrol agents who had had found a truck broken down on Route 15 in Jackman, investigators said.

In the bed of the Ford pickup truck, registered in North Carolina, were the parts of two butchered moose, officials said. Found were four front quarters and four back quarters. The truck was registered to Carroll.

The two men were later found walking along Route 201 south of Jackman and were arrested by wardens.

The pair face a mandatory minimum of six days in jail and several thousand dollars in fines for the charges against them. Carroll was a defendant in a similar case in 2005 when he was charged and convicted with illegally killing two moose in the Jackman area.

Ellie