Sport fisherman charged with felonies after Ohio cheating scandal

Two fishermen at the center of a cheating scandal that rocked the sport fishing world last month were charged with multiple felonies on Wednesday for stuffing their catch with metal weights to win tens of thousands of dollars at a tournament in Ohio.

Jacob Runyan, 42, and Chase Cominsky, 35, have been charged in Cleveland with fraud, attempted grand larceny, possession of criminal tools and misdemeanor possession of wild animals. They face up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine for each of the three crimes. The offense is punishable by up to 30 days in prison and a $250 fine.

“I take all crimes very seriously, and I believe what these two individuals attempted to do was not only dishonorable but also criminal,” Cuyahoga County Attorney Michael O’Malley said in a statement Wednesday.

Neither Runyan, who lives in Ashtabula, Ohio, nor Cominsky, of Hermitage, Pennsylvania, immediately responded to Washington Post requests for comment. Court records do not yet list attorneys for the men.

The charges stem from the last championship competition of the Lake Erie Walleye Trail fishing tournament on Sept. 30, when about 65 two-person teams spent eight hours plucking five of the heaviest walleye from the Great Lake. Runyan and Cominsky, who made up one of the teams, appeared to have won the Cleveland event after submitting five fish weighing almost 34 pounds. That catch would also have earned them Team of the Year honors — and nearly $30,000 — for winning three other tournament events in June, July and September.

But tournament director Jason Fischer told The Post in the days after the competition that he became suspicious when Runyan and Cominsky’s catch was officially weighed and the scales topped 30 pounds. Eyeing the entry, Fischer estimated the five fish weighed around 20 pounds.

“It kind of discouraged me because I just knew it wasn’t right,” Fischer told The Post.

The fishermen almost won a tournament. Then weights were found in the fish.

Acting on a hunch, Fischer grabbed one of the fish and felt something hard in his stomach. Then he cut open the dead zander and made a surprising discovery.

“We have weights in fish!” Fisherman yelled and pulled out one of 10 weights totaling seven pounds that would be found in the catch. He also found several walleye fillets — meat from other fish used to spice up the entry, leading to a charge of wrongful possession of wildlife that could result in the indefinite suspension of Runyan and Cominsky’s fishing licenses, Cuyahoga County prosecutors said in their publication.

With Runyan standing yards away, red-faced, Fischer dramatically disqualified him and Cominsky, according to video of the Sept. 30 event that Fischer shared with The Post.

“Get out!” barked the Tournament Director, using a swear word to emphasize the point.

In a video posted to the tournament’s Facebook page last week, Fischer told viewers he was disgusted by what he discovered, calling it one of the “most dishonest acts the fishing world has ever seen”.

“I’ve personally never seen anything like this in competitive fishing,” Fischer said, adding, “The people involved here seem to have put greed and selfishness above all else and ruined our sport forever.”

According to the search warrant affidavit, Runyan and Cominsky were accused of cheating at another walleye tournament in northwest Ohio in April, the Associated Press reported. Police were investigating the allegations, but a local prosecutor found there wasn’t enough evidence to charge them, according to the `, although the men may have cheated.

Fishermen Jacob Runyan and Chase Cominsky were disqualified from a fishing tournament in Cleveland on September 30 after allegedly stuffing their fish with weights. (Video: Jackson Barton, Sarah Parnass/Washington Post)

After Runyan and Cominsky were disqualified, tournament organizers contacted the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, spokeswoman Stephanie O’Grady told The Post earlier this month. Wildlife officials went to the venue, where they gathered evidence and began work on a report for the Cuyahoga County Attorney’s Office.

On Tuesday, Pennsylvania authorities seized Cominksy’s boat, a fiberglass Ranger Pro Fisherman model he used in the Sept. 30 competition, from his home, prosecutors said.

Runyan and Cominsky are scheduled to be charged in the Cuyahoga County Criminal Court on October 26.