Pennsylvania Man Sentenced to Six Months in Prison for Illegal Wildlife Exports

A federal court in Philadelphia sentenced an exporter of protected wildlife to six months in prison for smuggling terrapins to Canada in violation of the Lacey Act, the Justice Department said in an Aug. 29 press release. David Sommers of Levittown, Pennsylvania, had pleaded guilty in February to Lacey Act false labeling violations related to the misdeclaration of diamondback terrapins on a commercial invoice and international air waybill he submitted to a carrier for a shipment to Canada.

Diamondback turtles are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), DOJ said. On the invoice and air waybill, Sommers had said the diamondback terrapins were book valued at $10. He also took steps to evade detection by binding the terrapins for shipping in duct tape and stuffing them in socks so they couldn’t claw at the package. That runs against International Air Transport Association guidelines for the human shipment of animals, DOJ said.

Canadian authorities had intercepted the shipment and tied the associated FedEx account to Sommers. In addition to several covert buys by undercover agents, Sommers was also caught collecting terrapin eggs by New Jersey wildlife officers. A search that was subsequently conducted by New Jersey found evidence of the shipment to Canada. Sommers then admitted to those agents that he had sold about 1,000 terrapins to buyers in the U.S. and Canada over the preceding five years.

Overall, Sommers earned more than $530,000 from his illegal scheme, according to sentencing documents filed by the U.S. government. The Eastern Pennsylvania U.S. District Court ordered Sommers to pay $250,000 in restitution. It also sentenced Sommers to three years of supervised release following his sentence, including six months of home detention.