Feds: SC man illegally trapped turtles in Georgia

A South Carolina man illegally trapped hundreds of freshwater turtles in Georgia that were eventually shipped to China for thousands of dollars, authorities said.

Now, the man is facing prison time.

Nathan Horton, from Orangeburg, a city about 44 miles southeast of Columbia, said he was a “wildlife enthusiast” and trapper all his life, according to a sentencing memorandum on Horton’s behalf obtained by McClatchy News.

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services began investigating Horton’s practices after they suspected he was violating state regulations regarding turtle trapping, court documents show.

Under Georgia state law and DNR regulations, commercial turtle collectors must hold a commercial turtle permit, use legal methods of trapping and abide by regulations for the number of turtles that can be trapped in a year, prosecutors said.

Trappers must use legal turtle traps made of “netting and shaped as hoop nets,” prosecutors said, adding that the traps should have an opening at least 32 inches wide to allow animals to escape.

While Horton held a commercial turtle permit from 2013 through 2017, prosecutors said he was cited by the DNR in 2016 and 2017 after he used illegal traps to capture turtles.

Prosecutors said traps without an escape ring harm not only native turtles, but also other animals that drown after getting caught.

“Horton robbed public lands by using illegal traps that can cause significant harm to aquatic animals and birds,” U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan said in a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Georgia.

Between 2015 and 2017, the man shipped hundreds of turtles to a wholesale trader in California using Southwest Airlines, FedEx and other carriers, before they were ultimately sent to China, court documents show.

The government estimated that the market value of the turtles trapped over the years and sent to the wholesale trader ranged between $150,000 and $250,000.

In December 2021, Horton pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act, a federal law that regulates the trafficking of wildlife and makes it illegal for individuals to “knowingly export and sell wildlife that has been illegally taken in violation of state law,” according to the release.

“Mr. Horton is reported to have trapped an area for turtles until the local population was completely exhausted,” the Georgia agency said in a statement, adding that it could take over 10 years for the turtle population to recover in that area.

Horton’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on May 10.

But in a sentencing memo, his attorney said “Horton was not the mastermind of a criminal enterprise” and was “making a living the only way he knew how.” The attorney sought “alternatives to incarceration to a federal prison” for his client.

Horton, however, was sentenced in May to one year and a day in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, according to the release. He was also ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and to complete 200 hours of community service.

Most turtles native to the U.S. don’t travel very far during their lives and usually stick to an area “about the size of two football fields,” according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The agency encourages civilians to report anyone illegally collecting or selling wildlife and advises against sharing the locations of wild turtles online as it could be used by poachers to targets the animals.

Cassandre Coyer is a McClatchy National Real-Time Reporter covering the southeast while based in Washington D.C. She’s an alumna of Emerson College in Boston and joined McClatchy in 2022. Previously, she’s written for The Christian Science Monitor, RVA Mag, The Untitled Magazine, and more.