A federal jury has indicted a Pennsylvania man for allegedly transporting over 3,500 turtles to Canada, the Justice Department revealed Tuesday. The 62-year-old David Sommers apparently snagged diamondback terrapins from New Jersey marshes and sold them across the border, the DOJ said.
The earliest evidence of Sommers' egg poaching comes from 2014, when it appears he shipped turtles to Canada in a box that said it contained a book, the report says. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proceeded to crack this case's shell when searching Sommers' home last October. Agents found and seized over 3,400 turtle hatchlings, which Sommers apparently intended to sell illegally. The hatchlings were quickly reintroduced back into the wild.
Sommers is charged with four violations of the Lacey Act, which is America's oldest ban on wildlife trafficking, per the DOJ. The diamondback terrapin population is dwindling, earning the animals threatened status in 2013. New Jersey has since banned anyone from having the rare turtles — which are pretty darn cute, as you can see in the image below. Kathryn Krawczyk
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