‘Harmless Reptiles,’ the box read. But snake trafficker shipped 15 deadly vipers in it
In spring 2018, a reptile dealer in south Georgia agreed to ship someone in Florida a box of scaly creatures.
To disguise what the package actually contained, the dealer deceptively labeled the box “Harmless Reptiles.”
But the serpents inside were anything but.
They were Gaboon vipers, 15 of them. The venomous snakes often grow to 6 feet long and have 2-inch fangs. Their bites can incapacitate or kill humans.
While none of the vipers hurt anyone — they were confiscated by the authorities in Florida before they could be sent to China — the case against the reptile dealer is an example of why the oft-lucrative animal trade can be illegal.
In federal court this week in Valdosta, the dealer, Ashtyn Michael Rance, pleaded guilty to violating an animal-trafficking act and also to a gun-possession charge.
Rance, 35, who now lives in Miami, faces a maximum of 15 years in prison at sentencing early next year.
Around the time he sent the snakes, Rance also was said to have shipped to the Sunshine State three sought-after eastern box turtles and 16 spotted turtles, animals whose dazzling shells are prized overseas. The box the turtles were packaged in read “Live Tropical Fish.”
“Trafficking venomous or endangered wildlife through the mail clearly puts the delivery couriers and the public at risk and can harm the boxed animals,” Peter D. Leary, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia, said in a statement Thursday.