3:46 p.m. - PIERRE, S.D. -- Three North Dakota men, including Sheldon Schlecht, and two Texas hunting guides have been indicted on federal charges of illegally helping clients shoot deer on an Indian reservation that straddles the North Dakota-South Dakota border.

The indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in South Dakota, alleges the men violated the federal Lacey Act by selling and transporting deer that had been illegally shot.

Jerry Donald Brooks, 56, of Midlothian, Texas, bought Sheldon's Waterfowl, a North Dakota outfitting business, but he did not meet the requirements for an outfitting license, the indictment said. The outfitting business was licensed in North Dakota but not South Dakota.

Also named in the indictment are Jeffrey Scott Smith, 42, Streeter, N.D.; Michael John Keller, 22, of Mandan, N.D.; and Rodney Charles Brooks, 58, of Cedar Hill, Texas. Schlecht, 40, also of Streeter, was the previous owner of the outfitting business.

The guide service booked clients from around the nation for hunts in the fall of 2003 that would allow them to shoot two deer, but the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe decided not to issue licenses allowing the shooting of two deer, according to the indictment.

The five men then used tribal licenses carrying their own names or those of others to tag the second deer shot by their clients, the indictment says. In some cases, deer were allegedly shot on non-tribal land without the required state license from South Dakota.

Brooks charged clients as much as $5,700 for hunts that would allow them to shoot both a mule deer and whitetail deer, according to the indictment. When the tribe decided not to issue two-tag licenses, the guides obtained other licenses and used them to tag the second deer shot by clients, according to court documents.

At least one client discovered the deception and became upset, the indictment says.

All face conspiracy charges, and a variety of other charges have been filed in connection with individual hunts. The maximum penalty for each charge is five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

At least some of the men are to be arraigned Aug. 2 in federal court in Aberdeen.

Keller and Smith appeared in federal court in Pierre July 13. They were indicted June 22.

In North Dakota, Stutsman County officials said Schlecht is serving a sentence of a year and a day in in the Stutsman County Correction Center after pleading guilty in April to having sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl in Stutsman and Kidder counties. He also was ordered to register as a sex offender.

Kidder County prosecutors also charged Keller with gross sexual imposition in the case. He pleaded guilty last year to a lesser charge of contributing to depravation of a minor, and his sentence was deferred for a year on condition he have no criminal violations during that period, prosecutor Jarod Tufte said.

A public records check with the North Dakota Game and Fish Department revealed Schlecht has 12 game and fish violations in North Dakota, ranging from not having a guide-outfitter license in 1991 to illegally netting northern pike in April.

Authorities said the federal charges came to light after game wardens investigated Schlecht's outfitter operations.

(Tribune reporter Richard Hinton contributed to this story.)