A former provincial conservation officer on the Burin Peninsula has been charged with breach of trust and theft following separate incidents in 2017 and 2018.

Police say they were first contacted by the Chief of Special Investigations with the Provincial Department of Fisheries and Land Resources to investigate an internal theft.

That investigation has led to charges for 30-year-old Jonathan Organ of Stephenville.

They allege that Organ issued cutting permits to at least four clients between 2017 and 2018, where he pocketed the payments he received. The permits were then canceled using the same system that was used to input the transaction. Those who purchased permits were unaware that they were invalid until they went to renew them the following year.

Organ has been charged with four counts of theft (under $5,000), one count of false return by a public officer, and one count of breach of trust.

He is set to appear in Grand Bank Provincial Court in March.