2 NC students face sentencing in dead bear case

ASHEVILLE — Two Western Carolina University students have pleaded guilty to charges related to dumping a dead bear with Barack Obama signs on its head on campus.

The Asheville Citizen-Times reported that brothers Marvin Caleb Williams and Mathew Colton Williams will be sentenced Tuesday on misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and wildlife violations.

Marvin Williams was 20 years when he was arrested and his brother was 18.

Maintenance workers found the 75-pound bear cub in front of the school’s administration building in October. Obama campaign yard signs were stapled together and placed over the bear’s head.

Western Carolina University authorities said at the time that the incident was a student prank, not a political statement.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)