{"id":59854,"date":"2025-09-30T18:33:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-01T01:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=59854"},"modified":"2025-09-30T18:33:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-01T01:33:00","slug":"maine-man-pleads-guilty-to-wildlife-trafficking-in-whale-and-bird-parts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=59854","title":{"rendered":"Maine Man Pleads Guilty to Wildlife Trafficking in Whale and Bird Parts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"116\" data-end=\"321\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><strong>PORTLAND, Maine<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"116\" data-end=\"321\"><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\" \/>Sergey Bachkovsky, of Greene, Maine, pleaded guilty in federal court to trafficking whale and bird parts in violation of the <strong data-start=\"259\" data-end=\"272\">Lacey Act<\/strong>, the nation\u2019s oldest wildlife trafficking law.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"323\" data-end=\"345\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><strong data-start=\"323\" data-end=\"345\">Facts of the Case:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"346\" data-end=\"771\">\n<li data-start=\"346\" data-end=\"387\">\n<p data-start=\"348\" data-end=\"387\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><strong data-start=\"348\" data-end=\"362\">Timeframe:<\/strong> June 2023 \u2013 March 2024<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"388\" data-end=\"481\">\n<p data-start=\"390\" data-end=\"481\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><strong data-start=\"390\" data-end=\"402\">Conduct:<\/strong> Imported wildlife items from Eastern Europe and sold them online in the U.S.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"482\" data-end=\"647\">\n<p data-start=\"484\" data-end=\"647\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><strong data-start=\"484\" data-end=\"505\">Items trafficked:<\/strong> sperm whale and marine mammal teeth (including scrimshaw), blue whale and Antarctic minke whale ear bones, and a broad-winged hawk carcass.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"648\" data-end=\"771\">\n<p data-start=\"650\" data-end=\"771\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><strong data-start=\"650\" data-end=\"672\">Forfeiture notice:<\/strong> Marine mammal and bear teeth, whale vertebrae, eagle, hawk, owl, and vulture feathers and wings.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"773\" data-end=\"804\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><strong data-start=\"773\" data-end=\"804\">Legal Protections Violated:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"805\" data-end=\"998\">\n<li data-start=\"805\" data-end=\"866\">\n<p data-start=\"807\" data-end=\"866\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><strong data-start=\"807\" data-end=\"841\">Endangered Species Act (1973):<\/strong> sperm and blue whales.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"867\" data-end=\"998\">\n<p data-start=\"869\" data-end=\"998\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><strong data-start=\"869\" data-end=\"930\">Marine Mammal Protection Act &amp; Migratory Bird Treaty Act:<\/strong> prohibit sale\/transport of whale and bird parts without a permit.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"1000\" data-end=\"1177\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><strong data-start=\"1000\" data-end=\"1014\">Penalties:<\/strong> Bachkovsky faces up to <strong data-start=\"1038\" data-end=\"1059\">5 years in prison<\/strong>, <strong data-start=\"1061\" data-end=\"1091\">3 years supervised release<\/strong>, and a <strong data-start=\"1099\" data-end=\"1116\">$250,000 fine<\/strong> (or twice the financial gain\/loss). Sentencing is pending.<\/span><\/p>\n<hr data-start=\"1179\" data-end=\"1184\" \/>\n<p data-start=\"1186\" data-end=\"1353\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PORTLAND, Maine Sergey Bachkovsky, of Greene, Maine, pleaded guilty in federal court to trafficking whale and bird parts in violation of the Lacey Act, the nation\u2019s oldest wildlife trafficking law. Facts of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2154,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Maine Man Pleads Guilty to Wildlife Trafficking in Whale and Bird Parts<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"PORTLAND, Maine Sergey Bachkovsky, of Greene, Maine, pleaded guilty in federal court to trafficking whale and bird parts in violation of the Lacey Act,\" \/>\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=59854\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Maine Man Pleads Guilty to Wildlife Trafficking in Whale and Bird Parts\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"PORTLAND, Maine Sergey Bachkovsky, of Greene, Maine, pleaded guilty in federal court to trafficking whale and bird parts in violation of the Lacey Act,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=59854\" \/>\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=\"2025-10-01T01:33:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/Whale-Watching.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"460\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"288\" \/>\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=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59854#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59854\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Maine Man Pleads Guilty to Wildlife Trafficking in Whale and Bird Parts\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-01T01:33:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59854\"},\"wordCount\":158,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59854#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/Whale-Watching.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"American Justice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59854#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59854\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59854\",\"name\":\"Maine Man Pleads Guilty to Wildlife Trafficking in Whale and Bird Parts\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59854#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59854#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/Whale-Watching.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-10-01T01:33:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"PORTLAND, Maine Sergey Bachkovsky, of Greene, Maine, pleaded guilty in federal court to trafficking whale and bird parts in violation of the Lacey Act,\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59854\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59854#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/Whale-Watching.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/04\\\/Whale-Watching.jpg\",\"width\":460,\"height\":288},{\"@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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