Colorado Couple Indicted for Killing Bobcats and Selling their Pelts
21 October 2009
by Anai Rhoads
AnaiRhoads.org -- Two Colorado residents were indicted Tuesday for trapping and killing bobcats in order to sell their pelts. Officials say this violated the Lacey Act, a federal law that makes it illegal to transport or sell in interstate commerce any wildlife taken, possessed, transported or sold in violation of state law or regulation. Bobcats are said to be protected Colorado law, whether they are captured alive or killed.
A Denver federal grand jury indicted Jeffrey M. Bodnar and Veronica Anderson-Bodnar to 15 counts, including – two counts for conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act and falsifying information related to the Act, wildlife trafficking and firearms violations stemming from the illegal trapping, killing bobcats and selling bobcats pelts.
Bodnar was charged with seven firearm violations for "possession by a felon," and his wife, Veronica, was charged with two violations for transferring arms to a felon.
According to the indictment, from November 2006 until March 2008, Bodnar and Anderson-Bodnar conspired to, with clear intent, transport and sell bobcat pelts in interstate commerce that were unlawfully trapped and killed. The couple used leghold traps to capture the bobcats, which are prohibited in Colorado.
In addition, the couple submitted a false report stating that the animals were legally trapped for tagging by Colorado wildlife officials. The document alleges that Anderson-Bodnar took the bobcat pelts to the Colorado Division of Wildlife Office to be tagged, stating that they were killed legally.
Bodnar had been also found to have trapped and killed bobcats before, during and after the legal bobcat hunting season at different locations in and around Park County, including on U.S. Forest Service property. Again, he used the illegal leghold traps then killed the animals using a firearm and without a valid license.
In 2006, Anderson-Bodnar responded to a newspaper advertisement placed in a Colorado paper placed by a fur-buyer based in Montana. Tuesday’s indictment alleges multiple transactions were made across state lines with the fur-buyer and the couple.
Later, Bodnar and Anderson-Bodnar unknowingly invited an undercover U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agent at their Colorado residence after the agent claimed to be an out-of-state buyer. The couple sold him four bobcat pelts.
The maximum penalty for a felony violation of the Lacey Act includes up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The maximum penalty for the firearms violations includes up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 fine.
The Bodnar and Anderson-Bodnar case was investigated by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Colorado Division of Wildlife and being prosecuted the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Colorado and the Justice Department's Environmental Crimes Section.
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