American fishermen accused of cheating: ‘This is theft’ | Abroad

Chase Cominsky and Jake Runyon were declared the winners after the weigh-in of their catch in Lake Erie near Cleveland. But a man—possibly someone on the jury—who didn’t trust their catch cut the fish open and came across multiple aggravating materials. He used his hands to remove lead from the fish. Those with the heaviest fish would win last Friday’s contest, including prize money in the thousands of dollars.

Other participants of the Pro Fishing Tournament can’t help but confront one of the alleged cheaters, according to images on social media. The race director had to step in to let the winner get away unscathed. “You are leaving now, and no one is touching him.” His partner Cominsky was not present when the discovery was made. It is one of the largest fish fraud cases in the country, according to American media.

The two fishermen have been accused of cheating before, reports The Toledo Blade. Runyan has won several fishing tournaments in the past, most recently the Blaster Walleye Fall Brawl and the Walleye Slam. With that they won more than three tons. It remains to be seen what will happen to those victories now. “How many times have you done this?!” is shouted at Runyon. “You stole f***ing thousands of dollars from everyone!”