Fort Pond Duck Hunters Are Charged

East Hampton Town police last week charged two men and a Montauk teenager who were duck hunting from a blind on Fort Pond with trespassing, saying they had used a house on the pond, at 82 South Elroy Street, without permission. The men, Matthew Cuomo of Springs, 25, and James F. DePasquale, 24, of Montauk, were additionally charged with drawing electricity from the house. All the charges are misdemeanors.

The trio cooperated fully with the police, turning themselves in after they were notified that a complaint had been made. East Hampton Town Justice Steven Tekulsky freed them without bail, but with a spot on his criminal calendar.

Mr. Cuomo told police that they had written permission from a former owner of the house, Linton H. Baldwin, a writer who died in 2012, to use the house to keep warm and drink coffee while watching their blind in wintertime. The blind is just north of the house. He said they were unaware that the property had been sold last year.

The new owner requested and received an order of protection against all three.

Mr. Cuomo, who apologized in his statement, as did Mr. DePasquale, said they had drawn electricity from the back porch “for the ice eater.”

Both he and Mr. DePasquale were also questioned about an incident that occurred during the 2013-14 hunting season. In their statements, they admitted to capturing two injured birds, a drake mallard and a goose, from the pond and using the mallard, which had a damaged wing, to draw more waterfowl to their blind. Mr. DePasquale told police he had tethered the wounded bird to a weight and left it by the blind. A State Department of Environmental Conservation officer later contacted him about the incident, he said, though apparently no charges were brought.

Both men told police they had never shot over the wounded duck, which disappeared two days later. Mr. Cuomo said he had killed the injured goose.

Duck hunting on Fort Pond has been a divisive issue for the pond’s neighbors, with some supporting it and others strongly opposed. About 120 signatures were collected in 2012 asking the East Hampton Town Board to ban the practice, which according to the D.E.C. is legal as long as the shots are fired away from land.

Liza Bobseine, a state conservation officer familiar with the Fort Pond blind issue, spoke to The Star in 2012. “They have to shoot in a safe direction, no matter how near or far they are,” she said. “They can be literally 10 feet from a house, and it’s still legal.”