Jury votes guilty in mail-order snake case

Greg Tuttle

Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2000 | 10:15 a.m.

A Las Vegas man who mailed a rattlesnake in a flimsy cardboard box to an undercover agent in Pennsylvania could face two years in prison following his conviction Tuesday in federal court.

Edward Tierney, 73, was found guilty by a jury in U.S. District Court on a charge of unlawfully mailing an injurious article. Federal law prohibits shipping snakes through the U.S. Postal Service.

Tierney was also found guilty of violating the federal Lacy Act, which prohibits the interstate transportation or selling of wildlife in a manner that violates state law. Tierney did not have a valid permit from the Nevada Department of Wildlife for the commercial collection of reptiles when he sold the snake to the undercover wildlife agent posing as a customer.

Both charges are misdemeanors that carry a maximum penalty of a year in prison. Tierney is scheduled to be sentenced March 6.

At the trial, Assistant U.S. Attorney Margaret Stanish said Tierney had been licensed to collect and sell reptiles in Nevada between 1994 and 1998. But wildlife officials denied him a new permit in 1999.

Fred Henson, a state department of wildlife agent who testified at the trial, said Tierney's license was denied last year because he had numerous wildlife violations in Arizona and he failed to correctly fill out monthly reports of his collection activity in Nevada.

Tierney did not testify at the trial. His attorney, Assistant Public Defender Rene Valladares, told the jury Tierney operated a small business and he described the investigation that lead to the charges as a "complex cloak and dagger" affair.