The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Division of Law Enforcement Weekly Report from Sept. 6-12 includes incidents in the Lake Okeechobee area. This report represents some events the FWC handled over specified weeks; however, it does not include all actions taken by the Division of Law Enforcement.

Glades County

• Officer Ciprich was patrolling near the rim canal of Lake Okeechobee when he observed a vehicle operating on a South Florida Water Management District levee that has signage stating no vehicles allowed. The subject was stopped and issued a citation for operating a vehicle in an unauthorized area of South Florida Water Management District lands.

• Officer Ciprich was patrolling private property when he observed a vehicle come off a main road and onto the private property. The vehicle was stopped as the subjects did not have permission to be on the property. The subject was found to be driving while never having had a driver’s license issued to him. The subject was issued a notice to appear for driving a vehicle without having a valid driver’s license. He was also issued a warning for the trespass violation.

Hendry County

• Officer Specialist Perez responded to numerous subjects illegally harvesting palmetto berries from the Okaloacoochee (OK) Slough WMA. Perez deployed his drone and was able to locate a campsite with numerous bags of illegally harvested palmetto berries. The search for illegal harvesters is still ongoing.