A Minnesota man was sentenced to seven days in jail on Monday after pleading guilty to cheating in an ice-fishing tournament in February. Alfred "Tom" Mead told the court that he had brought two live pike to the Park Rapids American Legion Community Fishing Derby in an attempt to pass them off as catches from that event, the prize for which was a $10,000 ice-fishing house.



Mead, 72, has a history of fishing violations. In January 2009, he was fined $145 for fishing over the limit. A few months later, he was fined $35 for fishing "with two hooks or a treble hook not attached to an artificial lure."



In exchange for Mead's guilty plea to charges of theft by swindle, prosecutors agreed to drop another charge of transporting live fish. Besides the jail time, Mead faces four years of probation and will lose his hunting and fishing privileges for two years. He will also pay a $200 fine and fork out $75 as a public defender co-payment.

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