Former West Texas A&M professor sentenced to federal prison – KEYE

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by Jamie Burch, ABC 7 News/Department of Justice
AMARILLO, Texas (KVII) — A former West Texas A&M professor accused of smuggling animal skulls, skeletons and taxidermy mounts into the country was sentenced to six months in federal prison.
A federal judge in Amarillo sentencedRichard Kazmaier on Tuesday.

Kazmaier was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine.

A federal grand jury issued an indictment in January 2022 charging Kazmaier with smuggling goods into the United States and two violations of the Endangered Species Act.
He pleaded guilty in August to violating the Lacey Act for importing protected wildlife into the United States without declaring it or obtaining the required permits..

The judge dismissed three other counts.
He must start serving his sentence before 2 p.m. on Feb. 27.

Kazmaier was an associate professor of biology at West Texas A&M University before resigning in October.
The Lacey Act and federal regulations require importers to declare wildlife to customs and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service when it enters the country.

Between March 2013 and February 2020, Kazmaier admitted he imported wildlife items from Bulgaria, Canada, China, Czech Republic, Indonesia, Latvia, Norway, Russia, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Uruguay into Texas without declaring them.
Kazmaier admitted he purchased and imported approximately 358 wildlife items with a total market value of $14,423 from eBay and other online sales websites. He did not import any live animals and instead purchased mostly skulls, skeletons, and taxidermy mounts.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) regulates trade in endangered or threatened species through permit requirements. The United States and 183 other countries are signatories to the CITES treaty.
Kazmaier acknowledged importing 14 protected species without obtaining permits, including the Eurasian otter, lynx, caracal, vervet monkey, greater naked-tailed armadillo, and king bird-of-paradise.

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