Full Notification

Detective J.T. Grindstaff of the McDowell County Sheriff’s Office charged 23-year-old Jack Daniel Brown, of Spaulding Road in Marion; 21-year-old Gabriel Paul Miller, of Wayne Street in Marion; and 20-year-old Adam Timothy Mitchell, of Virginia Road in Marion, with one misdemeanor count each of polluting hatchery water, robbing or injuring hatcheries or aquatics and injury to personal property.
The three are accused of killing 150,000 rainbow trout at Armstrong Fish Hatchery, on Armstrong Creek Road in Marion, on Saturday, April 4.
Capt. Shanon Smith of the Sheriff’s Office said the three, who have no connection to the hatchery, were there over the weekend tampering with equipment that they shouldn’t have been tampering with.
Hatchery officials said the men opened a gate, which diverted the supply of water and oxygen away from the 150,000 fish.
Smith added that the hatchery is private property, but officials had been leaving the road open to allow access for hunters and hikers to cross into U.S. Forest Service land.
The fish that were killed were valued at approximately $150,000.