Busted for deer sausage and raccoon carcass scandal, Louisiana man gets fine, probation

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A St. James Parish man who led state Wildlife and Fisheries agents and sheriff's deputies on a high-speed car chase after he was busted in an undercover sting over an illegal deer sausage sale must serve five years' probation and pay a $1,000 fine plus other court costs, prosecutors said.

Before the chase that reached 95 mph and went through St. James and St. John the Baptist parishes March 14, Brandon J. Engham, 31, thought he was selling 10 pounds of wild deer sausage for $60 to a buyer inside a Winn-Dixie parking lot in St. James Parish, an arrest report says.

But it turned out Wildlife and Fisheries agents had been investigating Engham over allegations he was illegally selling wild game. They converged on him in the parking lot after the purported sale, setting off the chase that involved his nearly hitting agents and crashing into an agent's car to make his initial escape, the report says.

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In a plea agreement with prosecutors in St. James Parish, Engham pleaded guilty to aggravated flight from an officer, aggravated assault with a motor vehicle upon a peace officer, buying and selling wild quadrupeds or wild birds, cervid carcass importation, prohibited acts involving interstate commerce, and failing to keep records of commercial fishing data.

Judge Jason Verdigets of the 23rd Judicial District gave Engham five-year prison sentences for both the aggravated flight and assault counts and six months each on the wildlife and fisheries counts Dec. 17 at the parish courthouse in Convent. But, under the plea deal's terms, the judge ran the sentences together and suspended them in favor of probation, a fine and court costs.

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