An East Butler man is facing 28 charges filed by the state Game Commission for allegedly driving through state game land property and privately owned crop fields in September last year.

Steven Bowser Sr., 38, is facing two felony charges of agricultural crop destruction and agricultural vandalism, two misdemeanor charges of agricultural trespassing, one misdemeanor charge of criminal mischief, and 21 summary offenses including disturbing game and littering.

Game Warden Ethan Beale said in an affidavit that he was contacted Sept. 29 by a Game Commission game lands maintenance supervisor and worker about two damaged gates on a closed section of Pleasant Valley Road in game lands 95 in Cherry Township.

The archery deer season started two days later on Oct. 1.

Deputy game warden Jeff Smith followed the suspected path of the vehicle east on Pleasant Valley Road to a game lands parking lot, where he found a piece of a vehicle’s grill. He took the grill to two auto body shops where employees said it came from an older General Motors vehicle.

The vehicle in question appeared to have turned on to Christie Road in Cherry Township where it entered a farm field and property owned by Allegheny Mineral Corporation in Washington Township that was being farmed by the same farmer. Soybeans planted in one of the fields were damaged, according to the affidavit.

Tire tracks indicated the vehicle traveled through other game lands, private property and another soybean field in Parker Township. The soybean field was being farmed by the same farmer who was working the soybean field in Washington Township, according to the affidavit.

On the game lands, the vehicle struck an embankment and traveled through a trail that is closed to motor vehicle traffic and two warm-season grass fields, according to the affidavit.

Three beer cans and an empty box of beer were found along the vehicle path, according to the affidavit.

On Oct. 1, the deputy saw a 1996 Chevrolet S-10 pickup that was covered with mud and missing a piece of its grill parked along Main Street in Parker. Smith fitted the broken piece of grille to the section of missing grill on the truck, and found brown paint matching the paint on the game land’s gates on the front bumper, according to the affidavit.

The vehicle was registered to Bowser and his wife, who were estranged, according to the affidavit.

Through further investigation, the wardens said they identified two people who were passengers in the pickup, and one of them said they went for a ride with Bowser after drinking at a bar and tried to run down a deer with the truck.