Sidney man reaches plea agreement in Alaska griz killing

A Sidney, Montana man pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of conspiracy in the case of an illegal grizzly bear killing in Alaska.

According to the plea agreement, Arlon Franz, 51, admitted to shooting a grizzly bear on May 9, 2022 on the Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge, a day before the season was open.

Franz was with  Richard McAtee of Hungry Horse on the hunt.

According to the plea agreement, the two men traveled from Anchorage to Port Moller, and then to a lodge identified in court documents as “Hunting Lodge A”, where McAtee would be providing assistant guiding services to out-of-state clients. 

On May 9, the day before the hunt opened, McAtee and Franz flew from Hunting Lodge A to the Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge, where they established a camp.

That day—while the hunt was not open, and the same day that they had travelled airborne—McAtee and Franz shot and killed a brown bear. Investigators from the Alaska State Troopers contacted the two men in the field the following day, and they falsely claimed to have shot the bear that morning, according to court documents.

McAtee and Franz processed the bear in the field and transported the hide by plane back to Hunting Lodge A. 

Franz, in turn, arranged to have the hide flown with him by commercial air service from Port Moller to Anchorage. State troopers seized the illegally taken hide when it arrived in Anchorage, according to the plea agreement.

The two men weren’t formally charged until July, 2024.

McAtee, 46, was also charged with one count conspiracy in violation of federal conspiracy law and two counts of violating the Lacey Act.

McAtee’s case is still pending in federal court.

He is the former owner of Montana Wilderness Lodge near Spotted Bear and was also an outfitter in Montana when the Alaska incident occurred.

McAtee sold the Wilderness Lodge business and his license to outfit in the Bob Marshall Wilderness was terminated on June 13, 2024, the same day the license was granted to the new lodge owners, according to Forest Service records.

McAtee’s case is still pending in federal court.

A sentencing date for Franz hadn’t been set as of presstime, though he could receive up to a year in prison and a fine up to $10,000 in the case.