Ohio fishermen plead not guilty in cheating scandal case

AP

The two Ohio anglers who stunned the sports world after they allegedly stuffed fish with weights at a tournament pleaded not guilty to multiple charges on Wednesday.

Jacob Runyan, 42, and Chase Cominsky, 35, were indicted by a grand jury earlier this month on felony charges of cheating, attempted theft, and possession of the tools of crime...as well as misdemeanors illegal ownership of wild animals.

The two fishermen appeared in a Cleveland court on Wednesday...but neither spoke.

Runyan, from Ohio, and Cominsky, from Pennsylvania, were on the verge of winning $28,760 for the two seven-pound walleyes they caught during the Lake Erie event in September.

The problem... officials were suspicious of Runyan and Cominsky's loot - and once they opened the fish, they noticed that it contained weights and other fish fillets inside. interior.

Runyan and Cominsky had both been suspected of cheating in previous tournaments, although there was never enough evidence to catch them.