SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A Strafford turtle breeder has been fined $5,000 for selling a protected Missouri turtle species to Japan.
Prosecutors say 51-year-old John F. Richards is the owner of Loggerhead Acres Turtle Farm. He was sentenced Monday in U.S. District Court in Springfield for unlawful exportation of protected turtles.
In 2004, federal and state investigators found Richards was commercially raising Missouri native species such as Mississippi pap turtles, Ouachita map turtles, river cooters and alligator snapping turtles.
Richards was indicted by a federal grand jury in 2008 on four counts of violating the Lacey Act, a federal wildlife protection law. He pleaded guilty in May.
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