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Four Western Washington men were convicted last week in Grant County Superior Court for poaching on Banks Lake, using gill nets to catch dozens of fish Dec. 5, 2013.

“There really is no excuse for this behavior,” Grant County Prosecutor Angus Lee said.

“We will be asking the court to impose two months of county jail time on each of these four defendants.”

Arrested at the time were Vladimir Savchenko, 36, Edmonds; Peter Zhezhelev, 46, Kenmore; Aleksandr Kashnikov, 45, Everett; and Sergey Mitsevich, 38, Everett.

The four were charged with using gill nets to illegally catch some 194 whitefish.

Confiscated were the fish, a van, and eight gill nets.

At the time of the arrests, the report said, state Department of Fish and Wildlife Officer Will Smith observed two men running a gill net. He and Sgt. Mike Jewell investigated the scene and found several bags of fish and two gill nets in the water. When the officers tried to detain the men, they fled in a van but were eventually stopped in Douglas County where the arrest was made. The men had dumped several bags of fish and eight gill nets along the way.