The U.S. Department of Justice announced that an Alabama man has been sentenced for his role in an international bird trafficking operation that resulted in one of the largest fines ever ordered under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

Toney Jones of Eufaula, Alabama, was sentenced to six months of probation after pleading guilty to an ESA violation. Jones played a key role in a smuggling scheme that helped Georgia resident Dr. John Waldrop illegally import rare and protected bird specimens and eggs into the United States. Jones used his access to Waldrop’s Georgia farm to receive shipments and handle payments in a deliberate effort to obscure Waldrop’s involvement.

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Waldrop, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to smuggle wildlife and violating the ESA, was handed a $900,000 fine — one of the largest ever imposed in an ESA case — and sentenced to three years of probation.

From 2016 to 2020, Waldrop illegally imported more than 1,400 mounted birds and over 2,500 eggs from countries around the globe, including Germany, Hungary, Russia, and South Africa. His collection included extraordinarily rare species such as the Nordmann’s Greenshank, an Asian shorebird with an estimated wild population of only 900 to 1,600 birds. No North American museum holds eggs from that species.

According to the Justice Department, Jones deposited more than $500,000 into a bank account later used by Waldrop to purchase specimens through platforms like eBay and Etsy. These purchases violated numerous international conservation treaties and federal laws, including the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.

“Waldrop’s gigantic and rare bird collection was bolstered in part by illegal imports, where he and his enlisted co-conspirators intentionally avoided permit and declaration requirements,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) described the case as one of the most significant bird trafficking investigations ever undertaken.

“Waldrop’s collection included thousands of bird specimens and eggs, many of which are among the rarest in the world,” said Assistant Director Douglas Ault of the USFWS Office of Law Enforcement. “This is one of the largest bird trafficking cases in history.”

Waldrop forfeited his entire collection, which the USFWS National Fish and Wildlife Forensics Lab determined to be the largest seizure of bird mounts in the lab’s 37-year history.

The investigation, dubbed Operation Final Flight, was led by the USFWS Office of Law Enforcement in Valley Stream, New York, with support from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.

Senior Trial Attorney Ryan Connors of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Anna Karamigios of the Eastern District of New York prosecuted the case.

For more details, see the DOJ’s official press release.

Sherri Blevins is a writer for Mountain Valley News and a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You may contact her at [email protected].