Two Marshall County men charged with cheating in a Guntersville bass tournament were found guilty and sent to jail.

After a four hour trial, a district court judge ordered the men lose more than just their freedom Monday.

Gary Lee Minor Jr. of Albertville and Robert Scott Gillaspie of Boaz were ordered to the Marshall County Jail after their sentencing.

Minor and Gillaspie both appeared Monday morning for their trial, where they were found guilty of theft by deception and tampering with a sporting event.

They were ordered to a year suspended jail sentence, provided they serve 30 days, serve 400 hours of community service at Lake Guntersville State Park, two years probation, and each pay $1,000 and court costs.

The pair was charged earlier this year after they turned in a crop of fish to win the Tuesday and Thursday Night Owls Fishing Tournament on April 22.

In testimony heard Monday, Professional angler Richard Peek testified he witnessed the two men stop off at a boat dock and emerge with a large bass in a net that had come from inside the boat dock.

The men are allowed to make a $1,000 appeal bond, which would then send the case to a jury in circuit court. Should the pair make bond, a condition of their release is that they give up their hunting and fishing licenses.

Copyright 2014 WAFF. All rights reserved.


If this has already been posted and discussed forgive me.

This is why I do not fish "partner" tournaments. It is just way too easy to cheat.

Lol what?

Lol what people are gonna cheat if its a partners or solo tourny either way they got caught.

I think cheating is much more rampant in fishing tournaments than most folks would like to admit. It's just too easy to do it and too difficult to prove it happened.

I have fished "partner draw" (or angler/co-angler as they like to call them now), since the 1980's. RedMan, BFL, and a few BASS and FLW tourneys, and I have never seen any cheating. As for "buddy" tournaments, I am sure the record speaks for itself.

You are probably right.

Look at how long Robbie Rose was allowed to get away with it.

My opinion is at the club level, probably rare. Once you get to trails and opens then it more rampant.

My 1st year of tourney fishing a club. I fished a tourney on fork and didn't no nothing about a slot. I was on the back deck and my partner caught a fish and he got it in. When I turned around he was in the bottom of the boat with a pair of Scissors trimming the tail. I didn't know what to do. I kept talking to myself. Do I turn this guy in, what do I do. Then I was thinking, if I do say something he could say I had partaken in this and I be labeled as a cheater. So I did nothing. I fished with them a little while longer and then done. Now I fish tournaments solo unless I know the guy real good.

Oh wow.... That's a bunch of bull. He's inadvertently made you an accomplice. No way I'd go for that.

Solo would be easier to cheat in... less eyes on you, less guilt, less parties to keep quiet...

I've only seen one time where I think I saw it, well maybe 2... The one i know was cheeting was we saw a boat pull into a little cut at ive stay by one tree, leave... come back ten min later go to same tree, stay minute leave. this is the day before a big tourney.. We pull up to tree and a basket with a GOOD under is underneath. I release fish and throw basket...

Only other time was a gentleman "lost" all my weight for every tournament for the year... and coincidentally one of his best friends got to fish the spot I should have had in the FWL college tourneys that year... After that I took pictures of all weigh in sheets because I realized you cant trust "nice guys" either...

That's crazy man. I would lose my mind and drop that guy off at the nearest bank.

Pretty soon, I think we will see cheating in larger trails, like BassChamps, be nearly impossible. Cameras like the GoPro are becoming more affordable and more efficient. Personally, if part of the BassChamps (or similar trails) requirement was to own this type of camera and record the entire day, I would absolutely do it. Anybody that places in the money would then submit their video for possible review.

The really suspect tournaments in my opinion are stuff like McDonalds, Ford Mega Bass, etc. These tournaments pull in all types of anglers and I think cheating is much more likely.

The sad truth is, in any honor system where money or personal gain is involved, most will follow the rules all of the time, but inevitably some will not.
I support the idea of having cameras on boats when the anglers are competing to win other people's money.

Really don't fish with a cheater pretty simple!!!

I think you missed the point. There are draw tournaments, and there are buddy tournaments. Draw tournaments severely limit the ability to cheat, buddy tournaments (where you choose your partner) leave cheating wide open.