Mass. man sentenced for trafficking dozens of endangered animal parts

A Redding man was sentenced Thursday for trafficking more than 100 parts of endangered and protected animals, according to federal prosecutors.

Adam Beed, 40, pleaded guilty in January to two counts of conspiracy to smuggle goods, especially illegally imported wildlife parts, into the United States, along with two counts of violating the Lacey Act, which prohibits wildlife trafficking.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts said in a news release that Beed will spend eight months in prison for his crimes, followed by two years of supervised release. He was also ordered to pay a $75,000 fine to “fund wildlife enforcement efforts.”

“Trafficking in the remains of endangered and protected animals is not a hobby for collectors — it is a crime that fuels the exploitation of vulnerable species around the world,” US Attorney Leah Foley said in the statement. “This defendant knowingly trafficked and profited from the killing of protected animals — some of which were slaughtered at his direction — undermining global conservation efforts.”

The wildlife whose parts were imported are protected under multiple endangered species laws, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. From at least January 2018 to June 2021, he “purchased, sold, and traded wildlife parts and products” from several threatened and endangered species.

Wildlife parts that Bede later turned over to law enforcement include:

• Orangutan skulls
• Tiger skulls
• Leopard skin, skull and claw
• Jaguar skin and skull
• African lion skulls
• Polar bear skull
• Narwhal tusk
• Otter skeleton
• Harp seal skull
• Pangolin skull
• Skull of a South American fur seal
• Elephant seal skull
• Babirosa skulls
• Mandrill skulls
• Wallaby skull
• Jackal skull

Prosecutors said Bede ordered these animal parts from dealers in Cameroon and Indonesia who killed and acquired wildlife. Once he received them illegally, he would resell or trade them to customers in the United States.

Investigators found text messages between him and his co-conspirators overseas, in which he gave them specific instructions on which skulls to send and what condition they should be sent in, prosecutors said. He repeatedly instructed one of his dealers in Cameroon to “stop sending me skulls [bullet] holes,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Prosecutors found that Beed failed to notify the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services about any of the animal parts he imported or obtain any necessary legal documentation. He and his co-conspirators concealed these imports from the authorities by “falsely describing them as ‘ornamental masks’ and ‘rodents,’ among other things.”

Beed was arrested after he sold two illegally imported tiger skulls to an undercover federal agent, according to prosecutors. He falsely claimed that the skull was decades old, that he had bought it at auction, and that he believed it had been sold legally.