UPDATED: Levittown Man Trafficked More Than 3,500 Protected Turtles, Feds Say

UPDATED: 9:10 p.m., Wednesday:

According to the Trentonian newspaper, Sommers is a former reporter for the publication. He also previously covered news for the Bucks County Courier Times and started the ahead-of-its-time online Bucks News Network. Between 2013 and 2014, Sommers reported on about a dozen stories for LevittownNow.com.

Sommers, a campaign worker for Republican candidates in Bucks County, did not answer his cell phone when called by a reporter for comment twice on Tuesday.

Original Story:

Federal prosecutors indicted a Levittown man Tuesday for allegedly trafficking protected diamondback terrapin turtles.

According to William McSwain, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, David Sommers, 62, of Levittown, was charged with smuggling the turtles and submitting false records for a shipment sent to Canada. The indictment included four violations of the Lacey Act for allegedly trafficking more than 3,500 turtles in interstate commerce.

Federal prosecutors said Sommers would capture the diamondback terrapins and their eggs from marshes in coastal New Jersey. The Levittown man would sell them illegally and had sent turtles across the border with Canada in 2014 in a package that he claimed contained a book.

Sommers is accused of violating the Lacey Act, a wildlife trafficking law, while transporting the turtles from New Jersey into Pennsylvania, according to prosecutors.

“Diamondback terrapins (Malaclemys terrapin) are a semi-aquatic species of turtle native to brackish waters in eastern and southern United States. They are not found in the wild in Pennsylvania but have a dwindling habitat range in neighboring New Jersey. The terrapins are prized in the reptile pet trade for their unique, diamond-shaped shell markings. The turtles are protected under New Jersey law and by an international treaty, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (“CITES”),” prosecutors said in a press release.

Sommers could face 10 years behind bars on the smuggling charge and five years for each Lacey Act violation.

Prosecutors said they are seeking to forfeit all the turtles from Sommers.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife investigated the case that is being prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Environmental Crimes Section.

Editor’s Note: All individuals arrested or charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. The story was compiled using information from police and public court documents.