Timothy Heidenreich must pay the DNR $8k for stealing poached animal mounts

Photo courtesy MN DNR.

Heidenreich helped poach already-poached animal mounts.

​Timothy Heidenreich, one of three men charged with stealing animal mounts from the Department of Natural Resources, was ordered to pay more than $8,000 in restitution yesterday by a Ramsey County judge.

Heidenreich was also sentenced to 70 days in jail, but he'll get credit for already serving the time in custody since his arrest.

In January, more than 20 mounts from the DNR's "Wall of Shame" went missing. The display is designed as basically a giant wagging finger at would-be animal poachers, and consists of a variety of illegally killed wildlife: deer, turkeys, a bear. "Fred," the record eight-point buck poached last year, was among the mounts.

It looks something like this:

Photo courtesy MN DNR.

The DNR's graveyard of shame.

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Apparently the "Wall of Shame" didn't have its intended effect with Heidenreich, Shane Rylander, and Terry Cotton.

Shortly after the DNR discovered its heads had gone missing, Heidenreich was arrested at the Washington County Government Center for -- wait for it -- stealing a tomato from the cafeteria. Fruit theft was of course a violation of Heidenreich 's probation, so we has brought into custody by two officers who witnessed the crime.

Rylander pleaded guilty last week to felony charges.

​Feeling that the heat was on, Heidenreich called Cotton from jail and told him to get rid of the animal mounts. Police were listening in on the call, and found Rylander and Cotton loading suspicious merchandise into a van the next day. Another men was also arrested, but has not been charged.

Rylander and Cotton were charged with felony possession of stolen property, and Rylander pleaded guilty last week.

Heidenreich got off easier with third-degree burglary. He may be able to split the $8,205 fine with his two comrades, according to the Pioneer Press.

After the arrests, the DNR told us they recovered all of the stolen mounts, as well as some power tools that had also gone missing.