Man pleads guilty in Bald Eagles’ ‘Killing Spree’ in Montana
One of two men accused of shooting 3,600 birds, including bald and golden eagles, in Montana in an illegal “killing spree” pleaded guilty to participating in a scheme to sell the dead birds on the black market, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.
In a plea deal, Travis John Branson, 48, of Washington state, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, two counts of illegally trafficking bald and golden eagles, and one count of violating the Lacey Act, a federal law that regulates the sale of illegally acquired wildlife, the United States Attorney for the District of Montana said.
Mr. Branson faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the conspiracy and Lacey Act charges, prosecutors said.
In December, a grand jury indicted Mr. Branson and his co-defendant Simon Paul, 42, of Montana, on 15 counts, most of them for illegally trading in eagles. Prosecutors agreed to drop 11 of those charges against Mr. Branson, according to the plea deal.
Mr. Paul, who failed to appear at his arraignment, is still on the run, according to prosecutors. His sentencing will take place on July 31 in U.S. District Court in Montana, prosecutors said.
From January 2015 to March 2021, the two men routinely met on the prairies of the Flathead Indian Reservation in western Montana to hunt eagles that they would later sell, prosecutors said. Mr. Branson would travel from Washington state to meet Mr. Paul on the reservation, where he lived, prosecutors said.
According to the indictment, the men sold the eagles’ wings and tails and, on one occasion, a whole eagle. Prosecutors did not say how much money the men made from the sale, noting only that the bird parts were sold for “significant amounts of money.”
At one point, they devised a hunting strategy that involved putting out a deer carcass to attract the birds, according to the indictment, which also cited text messages between Mr. Branson and buyers.
In one message, Mr. Branson told a buyer he was “on a killing spree” to stock up on eagle tail feathers. In another, he wrote that he was “committing crimes,” according to the complaint.
He also appeared to acknowledge in a separate message that shipping the birds internationally was illegal, prosecutors said.
Mr. Branson’s public defender, Andrew J. Nelson, could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday evening. Messages left at a phone number and sent to an email address listed for Mr. Branson were immediately returned.
A lawyer listed in Mr. Paul’s lawsuits declined to comment.
The killing of bald eagles was seen as particularly egregious in a country where the bird is the national symbol and was once considered an endangered species.
It was unclear how many of the 3,600 bird complainants said the men killed were eagles. Clair J. Howard, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Justice, declined to comment.