A Reading, Massachusetts, man was sentenced to prison for trafficking more than 100 wildlife parts from endangered and protected species.U.S. Senior District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV sentenced Adam Bied, 40, to eight months in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release.Bied was also ordered to pay a $75,000 fine to fund wildlife enforcement efforts. He pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to smuggle illegally imported wildlife parts into the United States and two counts of violating the Lacey Act, which prohibits trafficking in wildlife, in January.According to the Department of Justice, Bied conspired with poachers in Cameroon and Indonesia to buy, sell, and trade rare wildlife parts and products to customers in the United States between January 2018 and June 2021.Text messages from 2018 showed Bied would contact a poacher in Cameroon to discuss hunting and killing chimpanzees and gorillas.When the poacher said he couldn’t buy bullets due to the ongoing civil war, Bied offered to send him bullets or money to buy bullets. “I need rare things for my customers,” one such text message read.Bied also instructed the poacher not to send him skulls with bullet holes in them.Messages between Bied and a co-conspirator in Indonesia in 2021 showed Bied requesting multiple orangutan and Javan leopard skulls. Both species are considered critically endangered.In June 2021, federal investigators seized more than 100 wildlife parts from Bied’s home in Reading.Among the parts identified were:Orangutan skullsTiger skullsLeopard skin, skulls and a clawJaguar skin and skullAfrican lion skullsPolar bear skullNarwhal tuskOtter skeletonHarp seal skullPangolin skullSouth American fur seal skullElephant seal skullBabirusa skullsMandrillus skullsWallaby skullJackal skullFederal wildlife statutes and regulations prohibit international and illegal trade in vulnerable wildlife species. The Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Lacey Act and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), as well as the accompanying regulations, prohibit the import, export, possession, transport, purchase and sale of protected species. “Trafficking in the remains of endangered and protected animals is not a collector’s hobby – it is a crime that fuels the exploitation of vulnerable species around the world,” said United States Attorney Leah B. Foley.
BOSTON —
A Reading, Massachusetts, man was sentenced to prison for trafficking more than 100 wildlife parts from endangered and protected species.
U.S. Senior District Court Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV sentenced Adam Bied, 40, to eight months in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release.
Bied was also ordered to pay a $75,000 fine to fund wildlife enforcement efforts.
He pleaded guilty to two counts of conspiracy to smuggle illegally imported wildlife parts into the United States and two counts of violating the Lacey Act, which prohibits trafficking in wildlife, in January.
Hearst OwnedCourtesy U.S. Department of Justice
According to the Department of Justice, Bied conspired with poachers in Cameroon and Indonesia to buy, sell, and trade rare wildlife parts and products to customers in the United States between January 2018 and June 2021.
Text messages from 2018 showed Bied would contact a poacher in Cameroon to discuss hunting and killing chimpanzees and gorillas.
When the poacher said he couldn’t buy bullets due to the ongoing civil war, Bied offered to send him bullets or money to buy bullets.
“I need rare things for my customers,” one such text message read.
Bied also instructed the poacher not to send him skulls with bullet holes in them.
Hearst OwnedCourtesy U.S. Department of Justice
Messages between Bied and a co-conspirator in Indonesia in 2021 showed Bied requesting multiple orangutan and Javan leopard skulls. Both species are considered critically endangered.
In June 2021, federal investigators seized more than 100 wildlife parts from Bied’s home in Reading.
Among the parts identified were:
Orangutan skullsTiger skullsLeopard skin, skulls and a clawJaguar skin and skullAfrican lion skullsPolar bear skullNarwhal tuskOtter skeletonHarp seal skullPangolin skullSouth American fur seal skullElephant seal skullBabirusa skullsMandrillus skullsWallaby skullJackal skull
Federal wildlife statutes and regulations prohibit international and illegal trade in vulnerable wildlife species. The Endangered Species Act (ESA), the Lacey Act and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), as well as the accompanying regulations, prohibit the import, export, possession, transport, purchase and sale of protected species.
“Trafficking in the remains of endangered and protected animals is not a collector’s hobby – it is a crime that fuels the exploitation of vulnerable species around the world,” said United States Attorney Leah B. Foley.
Hearst OwnedCourtesy U.S. Department of Justice