BATON ROUGE, La. (WVLA) – The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries has charged a star of the hit television show “Swamp People” with improperly tagging alligators following an undercover sting.

According to an LDWF incident report, Troy Landry, 64, was charged with two counts of failing to tag an alligator while trapping it.

LDWF agents received a tip on Wednesday, September 18, that someone had set up alligator trapping lines in Lake Palourde in St. Mary Parish despite not having a hunting permit on that property. The next day, officers conducted surveillance in the area and discovered alligator lines that matched the description of the suspected hunter, who was not allowed on the property.

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According to the incident report, agents conducted surveillance in the area until they spotted Landry and two other people on a boat heading toward the alligator line. During the inspection, officers discovered that Landry did in fact have permission to hunt on the property.

When asked about the alligator tags, Landry said, “He was given two tags as a gift.” He added that every alligator in the boat was from the Atchafalaya Basin area and was tagged accordingly, according to the incident report.

Agents said Landry reportedly did not have the proper alligator tags to hunt in the area.

According to an incident report, Landry initially said he did not take an alligator from the property. After the agents proved to him that they had been “watching the whole time,” Landry admitted that he had taken an alligator from the area.

“Mr. Landry also admitted that before agents made contact with him, he cut a dead ‘stiff’ alligator from its leash and allowed it to float away,” the incident report states.

Landry received two citations, one for mis-tagging the alligator and the other for cutting the dead alligator out of the leash. According to the incident report, the boat and boat engine were seized in connection with this violation.

Landry is one of the group of Louisiana alligator hunters featured on the History Channel’s series “Swamp People,” which has aired since 2010. Landry, nicknamed “King of the Swamp,” hunts with his sons Jacob and Chase. and “consistently fills more tags than any swamper,” the show says.

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