NEWS RELEASE

OFFICE OF THE UNITED STATES ATTORNEY

WESTERN DISTRICT OF MISSOURI

MATT J. WHITWORTH

Contact Don Ledford, Public Affairs ● (816) 426-4220 ● 400 East Ninth Street, Room 5510 ● Kansas City, MO 64106

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RAYMONDVILLE MAN PAYS $500 FINE FOR

ILLEGALLY POISONING WILDLIFE

            SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Matt J. Whitworth, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that a Raymondville, Mo., man was sentenced in federal court today for using a pesticide to poison wildlife in Texas County, Mo.

            Eric Laney Bryant, 45, of Raymondville, was ordered to pay a $500 fine after pleading guilty to all three counts of a misdemeanor information before U.S. Magistrate Judge James C. England on Monday, Nov. 2, 2009.

             Bryant, who operated a hunting guide service, injected the registered restricted-use pesticide Carbofuran (trade name, Furadan) into deer meat and placed the poisoned bait on his property in January 2009 in an effort to kill coyotes. He maintained the poisoned bait on his property until Feb. 26, 2009, when agents of the Missouri Department of Conservation located three dead domestic dogs, several dead coyotes, a dead gray fox, a dead skunk, a dead red-tailed hawk and three dead American crows – all of which were killed by Carbofuran – on his property.

            The use of Carbofuran, which is now prohibited, was at the time of the offense restricted by the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. Bryant was not a certified applicator of Carbofuran, and poisoning wildlife is not a registered or permitted use of Carbofuran.

            Bryant pleaded guilty to two counts of violating the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act for using Carbofuran for an unlawful purpose and for using Carbofuran when he was not a certified applicator. Bryant also pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act in relation to the deaths of the red-tailed hawk and American crows.

            This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven M. Mohlhenrich. It was investigated by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Environmental Protection Agency.

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This news release, as well as additional information about the office of the United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, is available on-line at

www.usdoj.gov/usao/mow/index.html