William Carl Bartlett, 66, of Eastpoint, Florida, formerly of Cheshire, Connecticut, was sentenced today to three years of probation for illegally transporting protected wildlife across state lines — a crime that exposes a shadowy network of reptile traffickers feeding a black market for rare snakes.
U.S. Magistrate Judge William I. Garfinkel in Bridgeport handed down the sentence, which includes a $5,000 fine and 300 hours of community service. Bartlett, a known snake and reptile collector, admitted to shipping 10 Outer Banks kingsnakes via overnight courier from Connecticut to Emporium, Pennsylvania, in July 2012 — a move that violated North Carolina law, where the species is designated as one of special concern.
Before the shipment, Bartlett had personally collected a male and female Outer Banks kingsnake from North Carolina, directly flouting state protections. He then bred the snakes in Connecticut, exploiting legal loopholes and federal gaps in wildlife oversight. That breeding operation laid the groundwork for further illegal activity that would stretch across multiple states.
Between April 29 and May 13, 2015, Bartlett hauled five Coastal Plain milk snakes from Maryland’s Chesapeake Forest and Pocomoke River State Forest to his Connecticut home. Maryland law strictly prohibits taking wildlife from state forests without authorization — a rule Bartlett ignored. Two years later, in May 2016, he was caught red-handed trying to smuggle four protected snakes and four lizards out of Pocomoke River State Forest before transport.
On December 6, 2017, Bartlett pleaded guilty to two counts of illegally transporting protected wildlife. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Chen and investigated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement and the Maryland Natural Resources Police — agencies tightening the noose on a growing underground trade in protected reptiles.
Bartlett is the fourth individual convicted in “Operation Kingsnake,” a sweeping U.S. Fish and Wildlife investigation targeting a trafficking ring that moved hundreds of illegally collected snakes from 12 states, including Connecticut, and Canada. The operation reveals a disturbing trend: endangered wildlife treated as commodities, smuggled through mail and private transport with alarming ease.
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Key Facts
- State: Connecticut
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Organized Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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