Cheshire Man Sentenced For Illegally Transporting Kingsnakes

CHESHIRE, CT — A former Cheshire resident has been sentenced to three years of probation for illegally transporting kingsnakes to other states, according to authorities. William Carl Bartlett, 66, of Eastpoint, Florida, was also ordered Thursday by U.S. Magistrate Judge William I. Garfinkel to pay a $5,000 fine and perform 300 hours of community service, U.S. States Attorney for Connecticut John H. Durham announced in a press release.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Bartlett is a snake and reptile collector and in July 2012 he shipped via overnight mail courier 10 Outer Banks kingsnakes from Connecticut to an individual in Emporium, Pennsylvania.

Prior to that date, Bartlett collected a male and female kingsnake from the Outer Banks in violation of North Carolina law, according to authorities. In North Carolina, the Outer Banks kingsnake is designated as a species of special concern. Bartlett then bred the snakes in Connecticut.

Between April 29 and May 13, 2015, Bartlett transported five Coastal Plain milk snakes from the Chesapeake Forest and the Pocomoke River State Forest in Worcester County, Maryland, to his home in Connecticut. The snakes were collected in violation of Maryland law, authorities said.

In May 2016, Bartlett illegally collected four protected snakes and four lizards from the Pocomoke River State Forest, but was stopped by law enforcement before he could transport them to Connecticut.

Bartlett pleaded guilty last December to two counts of illegally transporting protected wildlife.

The matter was investigated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement and the Maryland Natural Resources Police. Bartlett is the fourth person prosecuted as part of “Operation Kingsnake,” a U.S. Fish and Wildlife investigation into individuals who trafficked hundreds of illegally collected snakes from 12 states, including Connecticut, and Canada, authorities said.

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