Gentry Half of Montgomery Gentry Pleads Guilty to Misdemeanor

E! Online reports that Troy Lee Gentry of the country duo Montgomery Gentry plead guilty on Monday to "a misdemeanor charge of falsely registering a bear he shot and killed as having been wild, when he actually took the animal down within the confines of a Minnesota wildlife preserve."

The case was supposed to go to court today, but was avoided by the plea. The plea also got him out of a charge under some obscure law. Gentry ended up paying $15,000 in fines, giving up the bear hide, giving up the bow and arrow he shot it with, and agreeing not to hunt, fish or trap in Minnesota for five years. The hide once belonged to a 600-pound black bear named Cubby.

Here's what Gentry had to say about it:

"I did participate in improperly tagging the animal I shot, without realizing the seriousness of what I was doing," Gentry said in a statement. "For that, I am truly sorry. I relied on the experts around me for guidance, and I regret that today.

"Not so much because I was fined and punished, but because it appears that I don't have respect for the law. This has been a humbling experience for me, and one which I deeply regret."

Photo from E! Online.