Kentucky man sentenced to prison for selling box turtles

A Kentucky man was sentenced to 15 months in prison for illegally selling hundreds of captured box turtles into the international pet market, which nearly caused the local population in eastern part of the Bluegrass State to collapse.

Christopher Cool, 59, of McKee, Kentucky, admitted he sold around $140,000 worth of the reptiles to buyers in New York and elsewhere, with the understanding that they would be sold in Asia where they are popular as pets.

He pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act, which prohibits the interstate sale of wildlife, in July 2020.

Prosecutors say that between 2019 and 2020, Cool enlisted friends to help trap the turtles for which he paid them $10 each. He would then sell the turtles to out-of-state buyers for $100 or more.

“I sell box turtles to rich Chinese people in New York for a hundred bucks EACH and up,” Cool wrote to a friend around the time of his arrest in 2020, according to court documents. “And I have an endless supply of them here.”

Cool is believed to have taken nearly 700 turtles from the wild in Kentucky and 125 more in West Virginia, a rate that could have ultimately decimated the population, prosecutors said.

‘Taking the number of turtles that Cool did out of the wild could have resulted in a population crash for the box turtles in this area if he had not been stopped.’ — Prosecutors in the case

“All turtles, including the box turtles, have a slow rate of maturity and taking the number of turtles that Cool did out of the wild could have resulted in a population crash for the box turtles in this area if he had not been stopped,” prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo.



Box turtles in the U.S. are considered a vulnerable species largely due to excessive trapping and demand for them as pets, particularly in Asia, according to wildlife authorities.

A message left with Cool’s attorney wasn’t immediately returned. In court filings, Cool said he had long been active in collecting and dealing in reptiles, but had only turned to the widespread selling of the turtles to make ends meet after being forced onto disability when he suffered a back injury and could no longer work his job at a tile company.

Cool also said he used some of the money to help friends who were in need, a claim prosecutors challenged.

“While he may have helped some friends or neighbors in financial straits, he also indulged himself by buying a Harley Davidson and illegal drugs,” the prosecution’s sentencing memo read.

Cool acknowledged in court filings that since going on disability, he had become a user of methamphetamine.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other...ket/ar-AAVkVY3

So, nearly $10,000 per month for his stay in prison? Some people might think it worthwhile for that kind of return on their time. I would not be a bit surprised if when he gets out he is right back at it again, but this time knowing the mistakes he made that got him caught.

When I was a kid living up in Maryland, I used to find box turtles all of the time in my ramblings through the woods. I remember one day finding a box turtle shell of a turtle that wasn't very long dead. It had a bullet hole right through it. I could not, for the life of me, comprehend why someone would shoot something like a box turtle. You can't get much more harmless and innocent than a box turtle. And honestly, today I still cannot comprehend the mind of a person who would do that.

We don't see box turtles all that often here in north Florida. At least not lately. Used to find them all of the time when our temporary pond would fill up after heavy rains. Not so the past year or two. Connie and I did find one crossing our walking path not long ago, though, so there is at least one still rambling through here. I am thinking they might be having a rough time surviving fire ants. Not to mention increasing numbers of roads and the traffic on them.

As for people mass collecting them and selling them off, well, in my opinion the penalties should be much stiffer than they apparently are. At least stiff enough that someone wouldn't be tempted to do it again thinking about that penalty as "Well, that wasn't so bad considering the money I made."

Perhaps jail time as punishment/justice, then payback of the financial end of it: a return of the amount collected (to be put toward conservation) multiplied by the percentage of such crimes that get successfully prosecuted.

So if, say, 10% of all such suspected crimes are prosecuted, then the amount collected ($140k) times ten = $1.4M, and then add prosecution costs. This way, the public doesn't have to pay for crimes -- the criminals do.

Originally Posted by Socratic Monologue

So if, say, 10% of all such suspected crimes are prosecuted, then the amount collected ($140k) times ten = $1.4M, and then add prosecution costs. This way, the public doesn't have to pay for crimes -- the criminals do.

I agree, but realistically, these types of people don't honor their debts, and probably don't even have jobs.
I was hit by a guy who was fleeing the police. Of course, he had no insurance and a suspended license. I was awarded a money judgment, but haven't seen a cent in ten years.
So, we put these people in jail, the taxpayers foot the bill for their incarceration, and their victims get nothing.

Yeah, I suppose if any of this were remotely simple humanity would have figured it out by now, after a few thousand years of practice.