{"id":58727,"date":"2025-04-09T19:21:11","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T02:21:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=58727"},"modified":"2025-04-09T19:21:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T02:21:11","slug":"feds-two-men-sentenced-in-largest-ever-bird-mount-trafficking-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=58727","title":{"rendered":"Feds:  Two Men Sentenced in Largest-Ever Bird Mount Trafficking Case"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1958 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/U.S.-Fish-and-Wildlife-Service-252x300.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"252\" height=\"300\" \/>A federal judge in Brooklyn on Wednesday sentenced two men for trafficking protected birds and eggs into the United States in violation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), officials stated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Dr. John Waldrop of Cataula, Georgia, was ordered to pay a $900,000 fine\u2014one of the largest ever for an ESA case\u2014and serve three years of probation. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Toney Jones of Eufala, Alabama, was sentenced to six months of probation. Waldrop pleaded guilty in August 2024 to conspiracy to smuggle wildlife and ESA violations, while Jones pleaded guilty to an ESA charge.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">According to court documents and statements made in court, Waldrop amassed an extensive collection of 1,401 taxidermy bird mounts and 2,594 eggs, which included:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Four eagles protected by the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act,<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">179 bird and 193 egg species listed in the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">212 bird and 32 egg species covered by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). This included incredibly rare specimens like three eggs of the Nordmann\u2019s Greenshank, an Asian shorebird with only 900 to 1,600 remaining birds in the wild; no North American museum has any Nordmann Greenshank eggs in their collection.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure role=\"group\">\n<div class=\"media entity-type-media entity-bundle-image media--image--s05 entity-image-1396076\">\n<div class=\"field__item img_wrp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" title=\"Photos of mounted animals and birds \" src=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/d9\/styles\/d05\/public\/2025-04\/Collection%20Photo%20Waldrop.jpg?itok=G8ChEqYt\" alt=\"Photos of mounted animals and birds \" width=\"500\" height=\"423\" data-once=\"setImgWidth\" \/><\/div>\n<div class=\"image-credit__credit\">\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"77\" data-end=\"696\" data-speechifyplaybackhighlighter-highlight=\"true\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Between 2016 and 2020, Waldrop illegally imported birds and eggs without the required declarations or permits. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"77\" data-end=\"696\" data-speechifyplaybackhighlighter-highlight=\"true\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">After U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) inspectors had intercepted several shipments at JFK Airport and elsewhere, Waldrop enlisted Jones, a farm worker in Georgia, to receive the packages, according to officials.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"77\" data-end=\"696\" data-speechifyplaybackhighlighter-highlight=\"true\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Jones also deposited about $525,000 into a bank account that Waldrop used to fund the imports and conceal his involvement. They purchased birds and eggs online through sites like eBay and Etsy from countries including Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Russia, South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"699\" data-end=\"1020\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Waldrop forfeited his collection, which the USFWS National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Lab determined was the largest seizure of bird mounts in its 37-year history. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"\" style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"699\" data-end=\"1020\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Officials stated that under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), all wildlife imports must be declared to USFWS and require proper permits, including for species protected by CITES.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A federal judge in Brooklyn on Wednesday sentenced two men for trafficking protected birds and eggs into the United States in violation of the Endangered Species Act (ESA), officials stated. Dr. John&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7147,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Feds: Two Men Sentenced in Largest-Ever Bird Mount Trafficking Case<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A federal judge in Brooklyn on Wednesday sentenced two men for trafficking protected birds and eggs into the United States in violation of the Endangered\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=58727\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Feds: Two Men Sentenced in Largest-Ever Bird Mount Trafficking Case\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A federal judge in Brooklyn on Wednesday sentenced two men for trafficking protected birds and eggs into the United States in violation of the Endangered\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=58727\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-04-10T02:21:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Bald-Eagle.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"622\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"447\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=58727#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=58727\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Feds: Two Men Sentenced in Largest-Ever Bird Mount Trafficking Case\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-10T02:21:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=58727\"},\"wordCount\":348,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=58727#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Bald-Eagle.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"American Justice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=58727#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=58727\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=58727\",\"name\":\"Feds: Two Men Sentenced in Largest-Ever Bird Mount Trafficking Case\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=58727#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=58727#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Bald-Eagle.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-04-10T02:21:11+00:00\",\"description\":\"A federal judge in Brooklyn on Wednesday sentenced two men for trafficking protected birds and eggs into the United States in violation of the Endangered\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=58727\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=58727#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Bald-Eagle.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/11\\\/Bald-Eagle.jpg\",\"width\":622,\"height\":447},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\"&quot;Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.&quot; 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