Detectives are continuing their investigation into the 2008 bear hunt that prompted the resignation of a top state Fish and Game official, turning their attention to the mystery of how the signature of a licensed guide from Kenai appeared on a deceitful hunt record written by the ex-official.

A trooper commander described the scope of the enlarged inquiry Wednesday, saying troopers are still piecing together details of a summer black bear hunt that led to 12 criminal charges last week against Alaska wildlife division chief Corey Rossi.

In addition to the improper hunt record completed by Rossi, troopers are also investigating whether one member of the 2008 hunting party violated Alaska restrictions by shooting a cub.

While troopers say they do not anticipate additional charges against Rossi, authorities are looking at the actions of others connected to the 2008 summer hunt and who were named in Rossi's criminal complaint, said Capt. Burke Waldron, operations commander for the Alaska Wildlife Troopers.

Among those cited in the charges were three out-of-state hunters in Rossi's 2008 party, including Robert Bruce Hubbard, a Utah guide who was apparently arrested on a forgery charge in Utah last year. The complaint also names Soldotna big game guide Joe Dilley, whose signature appears on the falsified hunt records, according to prosecutors.

Troopers are trying to learn who actually signed the inaccurate hunt records and other aspects of the hunt, Waldron said.

INVESTIGATING SIGNATURES

Dilley, a hunting guide since the early 1990s, said this week that he does not know Rossi and that he didn't do anything wrong. Yet publicity from the case promises to devastate his guide business and has already prompted a friend to cancel a goat-hunting trip with him, he said.

"I might as well find a new goddamned career," Dilley said in an interview.

Dilley said he learned of the investigation early the morning of Dec. 12. It was pitch black outside when headlights appeared outside his home, he said.

Wary of intruders, Dilley grabbed a gun, he recalled. Then the phone rang. It was the Alaska State Troopers.

"They came in and said they wanted to talk to me about Corey Rossi," Dilley said. "I said, 'Who?' "

Dilley says he had never heard of Rossi and never met the wildlife chief. But troopers were curious about hunt records filed in Dilley's name. Those papers claimed that Dilley had outfitted three of Rossi's hunting companions for an unguided trip: Hubbard, Duane Stroupe, a farmer and large-scale composter from Oregon, and David Reis, a Colorado trucker.

Members of Rossi's hunting party had killed five black bears near Shirleyville in Game Management Unit 16B northwest of Anchorage, according to the charges.

But that's not what the hunt records said.

The documentation, which must be filed with the Alaska Division of Corporations, Business and Professional Licensing, claimed two of the hunters -- Stroupe and Hubbard -- failed to kill a bear.

The report, bearing Dilley's signature, contradicted bear sealing records completed by Rossi and admissions to troopers by the hunters, according to the charges.

Rossi said that Hubbard killed two bears and Stroupe killed one, the charges say. Reis also killed a bear, which Reis sealed himself, saying he'd killed it with bait on a guided hunt, according to the charges.

There were other problems with the paperwork too. For one thing, some of the dates were wrong, indicating the records had been signed before the hunt actually ended, charges say.

Plus, in at least one instance, Dilley's own name was spelled wrong.

It was missing the "E," said Dilley, who was shown the records when plainclothes troopers visited his home.

Rossi told troopers that the handwriting on the top portion of the hunt records was his own -- with the exception of the signatures from Dilley and Rossi's hunting companions.

Whether Dilley actually signed the hunt records is now part of the ongoing investigation, Waldron said. Under state law, the records must be signed by a licensed big-game guide such as Dilley -- Rossi was only licensed as an assistant guide at the time of the hunt -- attesting to the accuracy of the details of the hunt. That information must include the hunters involved and how many animals they killed.

In a phone interview, Dilley said that he cannot recall signing the hunt records in question.

"To the best of my knowledge, at this point, no, I did not sign any hunt records -- that I can recall," he said.

Dilley said he suffers from memory loss due to an injury. But he would remember outfitting Rossi's hunting partners for the trip, he said.

"I've only done outfitted trips for friends. And I don't have friends that cheat," Dilley said.

Dilley said he had no idea how Rossi came to possess blank hunt records with his signature.

Dilley said he recently received a letter from the state professional licensing division asking for more information about the hunt. He said he didn't have the letter handy and couldn't recall exactly what the division was asking for.

Division director Don Habeger declined to provide a copy of the letter or comment on whether the state was investigating Dilley's hunt records.

"It's still not at the stage where we can make those things public. It's an ongoing issue," Habeger said.

Rossi told troopers that he did not know Dilley.

BEAR CUB KILLED?

On the same day that troopers drove to Dilley's home in Soldotna, investigators were interviewing Rossi's hunting partners in Oregon and Utah, according to the charges.

Rossi told troopers that one of the men, Hubbard, the Utah guide, killed two bears on the trip despite purchasing just one bear tag, the charges say.

Rossi acknowledged that the second bear would surpass legal limits and that he would have known that Hubbard did not have a second black bear tag prior to sealing the bears, according to the charges.

Hubbard claimed he only took one bear when he was questioned during the Dec. 12 interviews, troopers say.

Troopers are also investigating the size or age of one of the bears killed by Rossi's hunting party, Waldron said. One of the bears was particularly small and may have been a cub, he said.

A predator control effort was under way to boost moose populations in the game management unit to the west and north of Cook Inlet in 2008. But it still would have been illegal for one of the out-of-state hunters to kill a cub, Waldron said.

Investigators have been unable to determine the age of that bear, which would require examining one of the animal's teeth, he said.

"Part of our difficulty in this case is we don't have the bears -- the skulls, the hides," Waldron said. "Our investigation has not been able to determine where they're at, (or) if they still exist."

'BRAGGING ABOUT A HUNT'

Waldron said troopers began investigating the 2008 hunt after receiving a tip from an out-of-state wildlife agency. He wouldn't name the state, but said authorities there were conducting an undercover investigation of illegal hunting.

During the Outside investigation, the undercover agent heard hunters talking about what sounded like an illegal hunt in Alaska, Waldron said.

"Basically you had hunters bragging about a hunt that they had participated in," he said.

Troopers waited until the out-of-state undercover investigation was completed, in the spring, to launch their own probe into the Alaska hunt, Waldron said.

The trooper commander said he does not know what the outcome of the Outside investigation or whether it led to any criminal charges.

An online database of mug shots and arrest records collected from the Utah County Sheriff's Office in Spanish Fork, Utah, includes a picture of a Robert Bruce Hubbard who was booked on a March 8, 2011, forgery charge. The arresting agency is listed as the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, according to the website.

A spokesman for the Utah wildlife division said his agency had no record of the case. Officials with the Utah state court system also could find no record of the arrest.

But Lt. Yvette Rice, a spokeswoman for the Utah County Sheriff's Office, wrote in an email that any records of Hubbard's arrest appeared to have been expunged by court order in September.

Under certain circumstances, Utah residents can have all evidence of their arrests and even convictions sealed and scrubbed from public records by court order.

Waldron said he did not know if the apparent forgery arrest in Utah was related to the out-of-state undercover investigation that led to the tip about the Alaska black bear hunt.

Hubbard could not be reached for comment.