A prolific poacher with a 20-year history of animal abuse was sentenced to 43.5 months in prison after pleading guilty to seven felony charges.
Ronald Livermore received what state officials describe as the longest agreed recommendation for an illegal hunting sentence in Washington in nearly a decade.
According to the Washington Attorney General’s Office, he recklessly fired rifles into the woods during the night, stockpiled homemade guns in violation of a court order, and illegally hunted with small-caliber weapons not appropriate for humane deer hunting.
He was previously convicted of multiple crimes in Oregon, including a felony conviction for animal abuse.
“Washington’s hunting laws maintain opportunities for hunters while ensuring that hunting is as safe, ethical, and sustainable as possible. Cases like this remind us why these laws exist,” said Attorney General Nick Brown. “We were happy to work with local law enforcement and the Department of Fish and Wildlife in this case to protect public safety and animal welfare.”
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) caught Livermore illegally hunting with a firearm in 2023 and again in 2024. Livermore has never had his firearm rights restored after his previous crimes. Livermore was driving in the middle of the night in the Sinlahekin Wildlife Area while using a spotlight, shooting into the woods whenever he saw something he thought might be an animal. Livermore pled not guilty to charges stemming from this incident and was released to home confinement with ankle monitoring.
While the case was pending, WDFW officers found a deer near Livermore’s property that had been paralyzed after being shot in the spine with a small-caliber bullet. WDFW secured and served a search warrant, discovering multiple homemade firearms in a secret compartment in Livermore’s bathroom. The firearms were made of materials such as umbrella handles, canes, and PVC pipe, but functioned and fired accurately. The officers also found an additional shot deer and evidence that Livermore was baiting deer to his porch and then shooting them.
Livermore pled guilty to:
- Four counts of unlawful possession of a firearm in the second degree
- One count of unlawful hunting of big game in the first degree committed while armed with a firearm
- One count of unlawful hunting of big game in the first degree
- One count of unlawful possession of a short-barreled rifle