COLORADO — A man who conspired with others to provide many illegal hunts of mountain lions and bobcats in Colorado and Utah from 2007 to 2009 plead guilty to conspiracy, federal officials announced today.
Nicholaus J. Rodgers, 31, of Shady Cove, Oregon, plead guilty in U.S. District Court in Denver to a felony conspiracy charge stemming from the assistance he provided to an outfitter who sold the illegal hunts, officials said.
Rodgers admitted violating the Lacey Act and is facing up to five years in prison. He will be sentenced in November, officials said.
The Lacey Act is a federal law that makes it illegal to knowingly transport or sell in interstate commerce any wildlife that has been taken or possessed in violation of state laws or regulations.
Authorities said Rodgers and his confederates trapped, shot and caged mountain lions and bobcats prior to hunts in order to provide easier chases of the cats for clients.
Rodgers also admitted that he and his partners guided several hunters that did not possess a Utah mountain lion or bobcat license on mountain lion or bobcat hunts in Utah.
The outfitter for whom Rodgers guided, Christopher W. Loncarich, was also indicted on Jan. 7, 2014.
Loncarich is based in Mack, Colorado, which is approximately five miles from the Utah-Colorado border. Loncarich sold mountain lion hunts for between $3,500 and $7,500 and bobcat hunts for between $700 and $1,500 and shared a portion of the proceeds from successful hunts with Rodgers.
Three of Loncarich’s assistant guides have previously pleaded guilty to Lacey Act violations in connection with their guiding activities with Loncarich.
The case was investigated by the United States Fish & Wildlife Service, Colorado Parks and Wildlife and the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources.