Daily Sitka Sentinel

Elfin Cove Lodge Owners Charged Over Residency

    By SHANNON HAUGLAND
Sentinel Staff Writer
    The two owners of a sport fishing lodge on the north end of Chichagof Island have been charged with making false statements and other violations of state fishing laws and regulations.
    Charges filed in Sitka Superior Court allege that James H. Benton, 44, and Dennis Meier, 57, co-owners of the Tanaku Lodge at Elfin Cove, claimed benefits of Alaska residency while they actually were legal residents of other states.
    Meier, who is Benton’s brother-in-law, was charged with five counts of unsworn falsification from 2008 to 2012, and one count of making a false statement on an application for a license, tag, permit or sport fishing vessel registration.
    Meier was served a summons on the charges Jan. 17 at his home in Sammamish, Wash., according to court records.
    Benton was charged with nine counts of knowingly making a false statement on an application for a license, tag or sport fishing registration and 12 counts of unsworn falsification between 2007 and 2012. He was also charged with unlawfully taking a Sitka blacktail deer without a nonresident locking tag.
    Benton’s home address is listed as Bend, Ore. His claims of Alaska state residency go back to 1998, according to court documents.
    Alaska State Troopers said they opened an investigation after receiving complaints from the nonprofit group AlaskansForAlaska.com claiming that both Meier and Benton, and Benton’s wife, were receiving resident benefits when they were not Alaska residents.
    Troopers said their investigation showed that Meier applied for Alaska resident sport fish license and crew member licenses, and a resident commercial halibut permit, between 2008 and 2012, when he was actually a legal resident of Sammamish, where he owns a home. During those years he registered to vote in Alaska, claiming residency in Elfin Cove, the charges state.
    Troopers said Meier’s wife and children obtained nonresident sport fish licenses during the same years. The state had no record of Meier’s ever applying for an Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend.
    Troopers collected statements from Elfin Cove residents, who videotaped the lodge from time to time to document their claim that it was empty in the off-season and was not a year-round residence.
    Trooper investigator Jake Abbott wrote:
    “I was unable to determine whether or not D. Meier had ever spent a consecutive 12 months in the state of Alaska. I found no indication that Meier had ever owned a residence in the state of Alaska, other than he is a part-owner in a seasonal sport fishing lodge in Elfin Cove. It did appear, however, that D. Meier’s intent was not to remain a permanent resident in the state of Alaska, but rather to return to the state at the start of each fishing season to run his business, then to return to Sammamish, Wash., where his wife and children reside, to live with them. In fact in D. Meier’s own statements he indicated that was his intention.”
    Meier is to appear in Sitka Superior Court court on Feb. 19, and a court date of Feb. 26 was set for Benton.
    Troopers said that the charges against Benton are similar to the ones against Meier.
    Troopers said the investigation showed that Benton was not a legally defined Alaska resident when he applied for a number of resident sport fish and hunting licenses. They said he owns a home in Bend, Ore., and spends the summer fishing season running the lodge at Elfin Cove.
    In addition to numerous fishing license applications, Troopers said that Benton also applied as an Alaska resident for the Etolin Island Elk Drawing permit, a general season deer harvest ticket and a drawing for a moose permit.
    “Based on my investigation, it appeared that J. Benton was not a true resident of the state of Alaska,” said the Trooper investigator Abbott in his report. He said Benton’s wife and children live almost the entire year in Oregon, his vehicles are registered in Oregon, and most of his airline tickets to Alaska were purchased as round trips from Oregon.
    The Troopers said state records show Benton obtained Permanent Fund dividends a number of years through 2003.
    “His actions are consistent with that of a seasonal business owner who comes up to the state of Alaska to run a sport fish charter business during the summer months then returns to his true home state once the season is over instead of electing to stay in the state in which he is claiming resident benefits,” Abbott wrote.
    An Alaska resident under state definition is a person who is “physically present in Alaska with the intent to remain indefinitely and make a home here, has maintained the person’s domicile in Alaska for the 12 consecutive months immediately proceeding this application for a license and is not claiming residency or obtaining benefits under a claim of residency in another state, territory or country ....”