ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — A New York City man who admitted to smuggling three Burmese pythons, which he stuffed into his pants to cross a border point between the United States and Canada, was sentenced on Wednesday to one year of probation and was fined $5,000, the federal prosecutor’s office said.
Calvin Bautista, 38, crossed with the hidden snakes into upstate New York aboard a bus that left Montreal for New York City on July 15, 2018. The snakes, young adult specimens, were hidden in the groin inside bags held by the drawstring of his pants.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents discovered the reptiles, according to court filings and a statement from U.S. Attorney Carla B. Freedman’s office.
Bautista, a Queens resident, purchased the snakes — worth more than $2,500 — at a reptile store in Canada, according to court documents.
The importation of pythons from Burma is regulated by an international treaty and by federal regulations that consider them “harmful to humans.”
The Burmese python, one of the largest snakes in the world, is considered a vulnerable species in Asia and is an invasive animal in Florida, where it poses a risk to native fauna.
Bautista’s attorney declined to comment on the case.
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2024-02-15 01:28:22
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