A Lincoln man must pay $10,000 in fines for selling several hundred flesh-eating fish to Floridians.Brandon Rodgers, 26, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in September to transporting piranha from Nebraska, where they would die in winter if introduced into the wild, to Florida, where they would not.The importation or possession of piranha is illegal in Florida and most every other warm weather state. Doing so is a federal violation of the Lacey Act, which in part regulates the importation of birds and animals into foreign habitats.
Rodgers was sentenced Thursday by U.S. Magistrate Judge David Piester to three years probation and $10,000 restitution. Rodgers, who according to his myspace.com page operates an Internet-based company called Rodgers Aquatics, is banned from commercial dealings in fish or wildlife while on probation.Between April 1, 2005, and June 15, 2007, Rodgers sold and shipped about 300 piranha to Florida and other states, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He knowingly sold the fish to customers in illegal states through Internet sites such as eBay.The $10,000 fine will be split evenly between the Nebraska Wildlife Crimestoppers fund and the Nebraska Game and Parks investigative cash fund.
