CJ Alexander pleads guilty to 14 charges related to poaching of giant Ohio Buck

In a damning about-face Tuesday, CJ Alexander pleaded guilty in Clinton County Court to 14 criminal charges for poaching one of the largest white-tailed deer in Ohio history and fabricating an elaborate story to hide it. A court clerk confirmed the guilty plea with Outdoor living but was unable to share details of Alexander’s plea before the courts closed Tuesday.

Alexander was indicted on 23 criminal charges in June for allegedly poaching the deer, which was also in the running for third-largest typical white-tailed deer of all time in the Boone and Crockett record book before being confiscated by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources in December 2023. Alexander had maintained his innocence after the ODNR launched an investigation into the case, and he doubled down on his innocence after his criminal indictment was handed down by Clinton County prosecutors in June.

Alexander had shared his story behind the hunt for the “Alexander Buck” with Outdoor living in December, a little more than two weeks before the ODNR confiscated the woods. He told the OL he killed the 200-plus-inch Ohio giant using a borrowed crossbow while hunting his sister’s 9-acre property in Clinton County . It’s the same story that Alexandre has been maintaining publicly for nearly a year, and which appears to have been dismantled by investigators, who have assembled a pile of evidence in the form of cellphone records and metadata, according to court documents obtained by Outdoor living.

These documents, and particularly the cell phone records they contain, give shape to an elaborate plan in which Alexander killed the 200+ inch male known as “Alexander Buck” on November 9, 2023 on a private land where he did not knowingly do so. have permission to hunt. They show how, after Alexander killed the trophy deer with a crossbow, he recovered the illegally captured deer with accomplices, then arranged its take on his sister’s property so he could profit from the deer, fooling investigators and become the hero of his own hunting story. . Those cell phone records were obtained through a search warrant and provided to Alexander and his defense attorney as part of their request for discovery, according to court records.

“I’m going to be offered stupid money for this baby with a deer head… It’s like buying money for a house… This deer is going to make us money,” Carissa texted his fiancée Weisenberger on October 17, just over three weeks before killing the infamous “Alexander Buck.” Other texts sent in the following weeks, along with accompanying GPS metadata, proved that Alexander was aggressively hunting deer and hoping to kill it on the 49-acre plot where he knowingly did not have permission to hunt. .

“I’m in camouflage and I’m pretty sneaky,” Alexander said in another text message to Weisenberger on Oct. 26, after she sent a message saying she was worried he would get caught.

Additional text messages, photos, videos, GPS data and Snapchats obtained from Alexander’s phone show how he and his accomplices attempted to cover up the poaching by arranging to take the money from his property. sister the day after her murder and by falsifying evidence and falsifying records. These records show that Alexander continued to lie, both to investigators and others, as news of liability spread.

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“It’s everywhere baby lol…No turning back now,” Weisenberger said in a text she sent him on November 13.

Cell phone records obtained by investigators also show how Alexander profited from poaching by selling his antlers to a timber buyer; by selling exclusive rights to his story to a hunting magazine and circulating the story to others; and signing a promotional agreement with a hunting company. He allegedly did all this while feeding these people the same false story about how and where the deer was killed.

Alexander could not immediately be reached for comment. He is scheduled to be sentenced in Clinton County Court on Dec. 11, according to the court clerk.