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Country Star Charged with Killing Tame Bear

Troy Lee Gentry, one half of successful country music tandem Montgomery Gentry, has been accused of killing a tame bear and falsifying evidence in order to make it appear that he had ventured out into the wild to find his quarry. Gentry, 39, faces a maximum penalty of five years in federal prison and $20,000 in fines.

"Troy felt what he did was legal and in full commonplace of the law and was surprised to hear of the indictment," said Gentry's manager, Johnny Dorris.

The government claims that the budding sportsman purchased a "trophy-caliber" black bear named Cubby for approximately $4,650, kept the bear in captivity, and then shot it with a bow and arrow. Afterwards, he and Lee Marvin Greenly, who faces the same charges of "conspiracy to falsely label an animal," tagged the bear as though it had been killed in the wild, and even altered a videotape to make it seem like Gentry had chased the bear down.

Gentry may have been spurred to take such rash action after frustrating bear hunts in the past. In an interview last year in the Standard Democrat, he talked about the thrill of his first bear hunt, but admitted coming up empty-handed. "I did get to see a bear and had a great hunt," he said. "I am looking forward to going back next year."

Gentry and Greenly made their initial appearance in a Minnesota court on Tuesday, but have refrained from commenting on their hunt publicly.

--The ARTISTdirect Staff
08.17.06