TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) investigators filed charges against a Georgia inmate this past May for an alleged fraud scheme targeting Florida hunters, according to the FWC.
The state agency said 39-year-old Rodney Edward Smith from Chatsworth was scamming Florida hunters while serving time at Macon State Prison on false imprisonment and other charges.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC) investigators charged a Georgia inmate this past May for an alleged fraud scheme targeting Florida hunters, according to the FWC.(Gilchrist County Jail)
Officials said between July 1, 2025, and April 30, 2026, Smith used smuggled cell phones to make numerous online aliases, social media profiles and phone numbers to advertise fraudulent hunting leases for properties he didn’t own.
These hunting leases are typically an agreement between landowners and hunters that allow hunters to access and hunt on their private land. FWC revealed that Smith negotiated these fraudulent leases for profit from multiple people throughout 15 Florida counties.
The Georgia inmate reportedly scammed Florida hunters out of thousands of dollars.
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Col Randy Bowlin, FWC Deputy Director of Law Enforcement for Investigations and Intelligence, said that apart from the scam itself, the trust between Florida’s hunters and landowners is in flux.
“By offering fraudulent hunting leases, he not only stole from Florida citizens, but also damaged the trust between hunters and landowners that is essential to Florida’s hunting tradition,” Bowlin said.
Smith was extradited from the Georgia prison to Florida earlier this week to face his new charges. He’s now facing four felony counts of fraudulently offering property for sale or lease, scheme to defraud less than $20,000, illegal use of a two-way communication device and cheating.
His bond was set at $700,000.
FWC said the Florida Attorney General’s Office of Statewide Prosecution, the Georgia Department of Corrections and the Dalton Police Department in Georgia assisted in the case.
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