After leaving the Trentonian, David Sommers made a pretty nice living peddling diamondback terrapins, according to the change of plea memo federal prosecutors filed: half a million dollars over three years, with another half a million dollars worth of terrapins in his possession when agents searched his Levittown home in 2017. But he cheaped out on shipping.
In court, he admitted to labeling a package of hundreds of dollars of terrapin hatchlings as a book worth ten dollars when he sent them to Canada.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joan Burnes says that violates the Lacey Act.
"The Lacey Act is the nation's oldest wildlife trafficking statute and it prohibits, among other things, falsely labeling packages containing fish, wildlife or plants," Burnes explained.
Burnes says Sommers would go to the Jersey shore after dark and take female turtles or their eggs to hatch and sell.
She says the terrapins are a protected species in New Jersey so taking them was illegal.
"Possession and transportation of diamondback terrapins is banned in New Jersey because terrapin populations have been in sharp decline," Burnes said.
Burnes says the government will make its full case at sentencing in May. Until then, Sommers' attorney declined comment, but he gave an exclusive interview to Sommers' old paper last July, saying Sommers just really, really likes turtles.