A 55-year-old man was sentenced to almost four years in federal prison Wednesday after he pleaded guilty to killing bald and golden eagles without authorization.
According to court documents, the man will also be required to forfeit the eagle carcasses and all eagle parts found at his prior home on the Uintah and Ouray Reservation in northeastern Utah.
In 2018, a grand jury had charged the 55-year-old with 10 counts of unauthorized taking of an eagle, plus one count of firearm possession as a felon.
When the man pleaded guilty to the gun charge and two of the eagle charges earlier this year, he also agreed to forfeit a rifle, ammunition and other items.
On Wednesday, eight of the charges regarding eagles were dismissed, according to minutes taken during the sentencing hearing at the federal courthouse in downtown Salt Lake City.
It’s unclear whether the man is an enrolled member of the Ute Indian Tribe, with many members living on the sovereign Uintah and Ouray Reservation.
Although the bald eagle was removed from the list of threatened and endangered species in 2007, the bird is protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Both laws prohibit killing, selling or harming eagles, their nests, or eggs.
from The Salt Lake Tribune https://ift.tt/baGNqVB
إرسال تعليق