Full coverage: North Woods Lawless

Residents say a Maine Warden Service undercover agent drank beer, encouraged night hunting and even poached a deer during an investigation in northern Maine.

Independent Rep. Jeffrey Evangelos of Friendship says that residents urged him to act after allegations of misconduct, and that there's been no accountability at the state level.

Rep. John Martin helped fabricate a news story on the Allagash operation and abused his power, Bill Livezey says in a complaint to the ethics panel.

The Right to Know Advisory Committee has not included the issue on its June 22 schedule, but may take it up later, members say.

Col. Joel Wilkinson testifies during a State House inquiry into hunters' accusations that a warden gave them alcohol, shot a deer himself and encouraged them to commit crimes.

Investigations in Androscoggin, Lincoln, Penobscot and Washington counties yield strikingly similar tales of questionable conduct.

A hearing on the agency's covert operations is set for June 1 as members of two committees differ on how to handle the review.

A committee wants to hear explanations about the actions of an undercover warden who gave alcohol to suspected poachers and shot game out of season himself to induce suspects to break the law.

A target of an undercover operation investigating violations of hunting laws allegedly made the calls to a game warden.

Legislative leaders will seek feedback after a co-chairman of the committee that oversees the wardens meets Monday with the head of the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

The agency also serves a 'cease of harassment order' on one of the hunters featured in the article, accusing him of making 'repeated harassing phone calls' to a game warden.

They say the undercover operative accused of inducing people to violate game laws in Allagash, while providing alcohol and doing illegal kills, used the same tactics in a York County probe.

The agency's 2,800-word response to a story about an undercover operation in Allagash contains several erroneous or misleading statements.

The agency says that there were 'many inaccuracies,' and that a flouting of fish and game laws sparked the investigation and final raid filmed for TV's 'North Woods Law.'

Gov. Paul LePage says his office is working to verify the Maine Sunday Telegram's report of a dramatic raid in which agents may have padded evidence, provided alcohol to people being investigated and flouted public records laws.

Sen. Paul Davis will ask the wildlife agency chief to explain the conduct revealed in a Press Herald/Telegram investigation, saying 'the public wants to know what is going on.'

Turning police work into entertainment calls some officials' motives into question.

Sting operations and the subsequent prosecutions sometimes go awry, including one case sparked by a single fish that drew national publicity.

Complaints are down and the agency has improved under new leadership, but its special investigations are still a flash point.

The agency disregards open-records laws through various tactics, including stonewalling and delays, heavy redaction and exorbitant fees.