Skip to content
Crime & Justice
Link copied to clipboard

Bucks man indicted for smuggling turtles

At one point, David Sommers smuggled turtles to Canada and said the package contained a book, authorities said.

A 10-month-old diamondback terrapin at the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor, N.J., in 2016.
A 10-month-old diamondback terrapin at the Wetlands Institute in Stone Harbor, N.J., in 2016.Read moreMichael Bryant / Staff photographer

A Bucks County man was indicted Tuesday for trafficking more than 3,500 turtles in interstate commerce, authorities said.

David Sommers, 62, of Levittown, poached diamondback terrapins and their eggs from coastal marshes in New Jersey and then sold them, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The sales violated the Lacey Act, the nation's oldest wildlife trafficking statute, the office said.

At one point, Sommers smuggled turtles to Canada and said the package contained a book, the office said.

>> READ MORE: In era of politicized prosecutors, Trump's U.S. attorney in Philly isn't out to change the system

The terrapins, which have diamond-shape shell markings, are protected under New Jersey law and by an international treaty, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, authorities said.

Sommers could face at least 10 years in prison if convicted.

>> READ MORE: New Jersey tries to save the diamondback terrapin