Man Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Dead Hummingbirds

TYLER � A 53-year-old Dallas man has pleaded guilty to smuggling charges in a Tyler courtroom. KETK reports Carlos Delgado Rodriguez was indicted by a federal grand jury May 14 and charged with smuggling dead hummingbirds from Mexico into the United States. According to the indictment, from February 2013 through January 2014, Rodriguez was alleged to have unlawfully imported approximately 61 dead hummingbirds of various varieties into the United States for sale. The five-count indictment specifically alleged that the importation of dead hummingbirds violates the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA), the Lacey Act, the federal smuggling law, and Texas state law. Rodriguez pleaded guilty August 27 and faces up to 20 years in federal prison. A date for sentencing has not been set.