RAPID CITY — A Hardin, Montana, man was sentenced to three years in federal prison for Monday for trafficking in illegal eagle fathers, the U.S. attorney’s office announced.
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RAPID CITY — A Hardin, Montana, man was sentenced to three years in federal prison for Monday for trafficking in illegal eagle fathers, the U.S. attorney’s office announced.
Harvey Hugs, 59, was sentenced to three years in federal prison and ordered to pay $70,000 in restitution for the 14 juvenile eagles that he killed. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey L. Viken sentenced Hugs after he was indicted in May 2022 and found guilty after a jury trial in February of violating the the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act, which makes it a crime for anyone to take, sell, purchase, and barter, bald and golden eagles and any parts and feathers of eagles.
According to the U.S. attorney’s news release, Montana authorities received information in February 2020 that Hugs, who had been convicted of trafficking in eagles in 2012, was again involved in trafficking golden eagle feathers. Between Aug. 20, 2020, and Nov. 3, 2020, law enforcement utilized recorded phone calls and text messages in which Hugs offered to sell various eagle feathers. On two separate occasions, Hugs knowingly sold golden eagle tails for several hundred dollars each. On a third occasion, Hugs sold a set of golden eagle wings and a golden eagle tail for $1,000.
For each sale Hugs mailed the golden eagle feathers to South Dakota and requested that the payment be wired to him, under his daughter’s name, in Montana.
A search warrant was executed at Hugs’ Montana home on March 3, 2021, where multiple items, including several eagle tails and wings, were seized. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Forensics Lab in Ashland, Oregon, was able to determine that items seized from Hugs’ home genetically matched items Hugs sold and shipped to South Dakota during this case.
In total, 14 juvenile eagles were genetically identified from the items seized. This case was investigated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Montana Game and Fish Department.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Meghan N. Dilges prosecuted the case.
Hugs was immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service.
