A Dover, Ohio man has been sentenced in Youngstown on Monday after pleading guilty of shooting and killing a bald eagle.

Seventy-nine-year-old David Huff was sentenced to one year of probation by U.S. Magistrate Judge Carmen E. Henderson and ordered to pay a $4,000 fine and $1,500 in restitution to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Huff is also banned from hunting for five years and the rifle and ammunition seized during the investigation will be destroyed.

According to court documents, Huff regularly conducted inspections of farmland and several fields he owned in Tuscarawas County for the presence of pests and rodents. 

During an inspection in October of last year, Huff shot and killed a bald eagle with a scoped rifle at a distance of approximately 100 feet. Upon shooting the eagle, he picked it up and disposed of it in a bordering field.

In June of 2022, Huff pled guilty to shooting the eagle, which is a violation of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which states that no one without a permit is to kill a bald or golden eagle, among other actions.