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Snake Expert Sentenced for Smuggling Peruvian Reptiles

Posted/updated on: October 29, 2013 at 3:59 pm
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William LamarTYLER A 63-year-old Tyler eco-tourism guide has been sentenced for smuggling live snakes into East Texas. William Lamar pleaded guilty on June 18 to importing wildlife taken in violation of foreign law. He was sentenced yesterday in Tyler to three years of probation by U.S. District Judge Michael H. Schneider.

According to federal prosecutors, on August 29, 2012, Lamar imported seven live snakes that he had purchased at a market in Lima, Peru. Lamar smuggled the snakes in his jacket on flights from Lima to Miami, Florida, and then to Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport. The next day, after TSA agents refused to let him board a commuter plane to Tyler with the snakes, Lamar traveled aboard a ground transport shuttle from DFW to his home in Tyler. Game Wardens went to Lamars residence and seized the snakes.

Peruvian law prohibits the exportation of wild live animals coming from the forest or jungle region unless the exporter has a properly issued ministerial order authorizing the export for either scientific investigation or for cultural diffusion. Lamar admitted that he knew that Peruvian law prohibited the unauthorized exportation of wildlife in a jacket without proper authorization.



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