By Jeremy Roebuck, The Philadelphia Inquirer (TNS)
'Swamp Brother' gets year in prison for smuggling snakes from Pa., N.J. and N.Y.
A
pair of Florida rattlesnake rustlers are headed to federal prison for
illegally smuggling snakes, prosecutors said Monday - and yes, some of
them were on a plane.
Robert
Keszey, a star of the erstwhile Discovery Channel show Swamp Brothers,
was sentenced Friday to a year behind bars for trafficking in protected
snakes captured in the wilds of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and New York.
His business partner, Robroy MacInnes, received 18 months in prison at a
hearing before U.S. District Judge Juan R. Sanchez.
The
men co-owned Glades Herp Farm, a five-acre Tampa ranch that doubled as
home base to one of the largest mail-order reptile retailers in the
United States. It was there that Keszey based his cable show.
But
even as they held themselves out as conservationists, prosecutors said,
Keszey, 48, and MacInnes, 55, arranged for the capture and shipment of
dozens of endangered snakes, hoping to sell them domestically and
abroad.
At
the men's trial last year, witnesses detailed a 2008 sale involving 20
EasternTimber rattlers they hoped to sell in Germany - a market where
buyers, in the words of one witness, "go nuts" for North American
species and pay up to $800 for a single snake.
Keszey
and MacInnes later sent a pair of nonvenomous Eastern Indigo snakes
from Florida to a contact in Sellersville for domestic sale. U.S. Fish
and Wildlife agents estimate that the species can fetch as much as
$1,000 a piece at reptile shows such as the annual one in Hammond, Pa.
The
Timber, a species of venomous pit viper native to the Eastern seaboard,
is a federallyprotected species. The Indigo, the longest native North
American snake species, is listed as threatened under federal law.
Despite their convictions, Keszey and MacInnes maintain their innocence, saying they fell victim to a onetime business associate turned government witness named Loren Zuck, whom they describe as - well, a snake.
Zuck worked as Glades Herp Farm's representative at snake sales such as the Hammond show and was never charged in the case.
But
when federal agents turned their attention toward the business, a
panicked Zuck took two adult Timber snakes he had on hand and froze them
to death. He flushed several baby snakes down the toilet, lawyers for
the farm's co-owners alleged in recent court filings.
"This
case . . . does not involve the injury, killing or inhumane treatment
of a single animal on . . . anyone's part," wrote Keszey's lawyer
Felicia Sarner, "except for the government's principal witness, Loren
Zuck, who callously killed numerous snakes to save himself."
Zuck
did not respond to requests for comment Monday. Prosecutors say
MacInnes did his best to make sure Zuck kept his mouth shut.
In a conversation between
the men that was quoted in court filings, MacInnes urged Zuck to lie to
authorities about their snake dealing. And even if Zuck were to be
charged, MacInnes said at the time, he was unlikely to face a hefty
sentence. "It's just snakes," MacInnes is quoted saying. "The judge, who
deals with rapists and murders and stuff - the judge is going to say,
'F- snakes. I mean, what are we talking about here?' "
MacInnes' own stint before Sanchez on Friday may have changed his mind.
In addition to their prison terms, Sanchez also ordered MacInnes to pay a $4,000 fine and Keszey to pay $2,000.
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