Simon Paul and Travis John Branson face fees of conspiracy, illegal trafficking of bald and golden eagles, and Lacey Act violations
Bald and golden eagles are each federally protected species. Kathy Munsel / ODFW
A federal grand jury issued an indictment on Dec. 7 within the U.S. District Court docket of Montana charging two males with a number of felonies associated to illegally killing, promoting, and transport elements from some 3,600 birds, together with federally protected bald and golden eagles.
Assistant U.S. attorneys Ryan Weldon and Randy Tanner introduced 15 fees in opposition to the 2 defendants, Simon Paul and Travis John Branson. Paul and Branson have been every charged with one depend of conspiracy and one depend of violating the Lacey Act. Paul was charged with 5 counts of illegal trafficking of bald and golden eagles, and Branson was charged with eight counts of the identical offense.
An investigation into textual content messages and PayPal transactions from 2015 to 2021 revealed proof that Paul and Branson ran a black market eagle feather ring out of the Flathead Indian Reservation in northwestern Montana, particularly within the cities of Ronan and St. Ignatius. Paul was the alleged “shooter” and “shipper” for Branson, who lived in Washington on the time. Branson traveled to Montana to kill and ship birds elsewhere with Paul.
“Through the investigation legislation enforcement uncovered messages from Branson and others describing the unlawful taking of eagles by stating, ‘[O]ut [here] committing felonies,’ and telling consumers he was ‘on a killing spree’ to acquire eagle tail feathers for future gross sales,” the redacted indictment reads.
The federal Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act of 1940 prohibits any take of bald and golden eagles with out a particular allow from the Division of Inside.
Based on the indictment, penalties for a primary offense of trafficking bald and golden eagles can attain a $5,000 high quality and a 12 months in jail. Penalties are elevated for second and subsequent convictions to $10,000 in fines and two years in jail, plus a 12 months of supervised launch. Moreover, the penalty for conspiracy is as much as 5 years in jail, three years of supervised launch, and a $250,000 high quality. And eventually, the penalty for violating the Lacey Act might add on as much as 5 years behind bars, three years of supervised launch, and a $20,000 high quality.
The indictment additionally talked about that different events have been concerned, though they remained unnamed.
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Whereas the indictment reported that Paul lived close to Ronan on the Flathead Indian Reservation from January 2019 by way of March 2021, it’s unclear if both Paul or Branson have been enrolled members of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.
