A South Carolina man with a historical past of turtle smuggling finds himself in sizzling water as soon as once more, this time in Georgia.
Steven Verren Baker, who was beforehand convicted of smuggling protected turtles between america and Hong Kong, is now going through a recent set of allegations associated to turtle-related crimes.
The surprising discovery of mistreated turtles in his possession led to his arrest and subsequent costs of aggravated cruelty to animals.
Bibb County sheriff’s deputies in Georgia arrested and jailed Steven Verren Baker on Tuesday, charging him with 15 felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals.
These costs come after deputies responded to a name about an deserted canine in Macon however stumbled upon a wholly completely different and disturbing state of affairs.
Nestled in a pile of trash, deputies found a basin containing a group of turtles, all in dire want of care.
In line with an incident report, a girl recognized as Baker’s mom confirmed that her son had left the turtles together with her roughly two months prior. She expressed her incapacity to persuade him to retrieve the animals, finally agreeing at hand them over to deputies.
The turtles have been in a pitiable state, affected by long-term malnutrition, bacterial and fungal infections, sepsis, and shell deformities. Among the many turtles, there have been 11 uncommon albino red-eared sliders, one brown red-eared slider, and two pink-bellied facet necks.
Moreover, a Chinese language golden thread turtle, thought of endangered within the wild however authorized to breed in captivity, was additionally discovered among the many mistreated creatures.
Steven Verren Baker’s current arrest shouldn’t be his first encounter with the regulation. In 2018, he pleaded responsible to at least one rely of conspiracy to smuggle wildlife in federal court docket in South Carolina.
This conviction got here after postal inspectors at John F. Kennedy Worldwide Airport in New York found 46 turtles hid amongst noodles and sweet in 4 packages in early 2016. The turtles have been shockingly positioned in socks and shipped via the mail in containers labeled as “snacks.”
Baker’s involvement in a turtle smuggling operation didn’t go unnoticed. 5 different people have been convicted in the identical South Carolina court docket case, with Baker labeled because the ringleader.
Federal officers revealed that he was engaged in each sending turtles from america to Hong Kong and receiving turtles from Hong Kong. This was achieved illegally, as buying and selling in such protected species with out the required permits violates worldwide treaties, such because the Conference on Worldwide Commerce in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
For his involvement within the turtle smuggling ring, Baker was sentenced to greater than two years in federal jail, adopted by two years of supervised launch that concluded in April 2022. Moreover, he was ordered to forfeit $263,225, reflecting the estimated worth of the turtles he had been buying and selling.
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This article by Trinity Sparke was first revealed by One Inexperienced Planet on 18 October 2023. Picture Credit score :ChristianChan/Shutterstock.
