Pacifica Man Who Sold Rare Animal Mounts Sentenced

James Dickson, 57, was sentenced Tuesday to six months in prison for selling taxidermy mounts of . 

Dickson was originally arrested for the sale of a stuffed Bald Eagle on the internet-based marketplace. The bird is protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which prohibits harming or killing members of the species.

He pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge William Alsup on April 12, 2010, to one count of engaging in illegal trade of protected wildlife, a crime which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Instead, Judge Alsup Tuesday gave Dickson six months in prison followed by a three-year supervised parole following his release.

U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag said Dickson admitted during the plea to vending the stuffed bird to a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service undercover agent for $2,200 on Nov. 24, 2009.

Dickson will also pay $2,200 - the amount for which he sold the bird - to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department. 

U.S. Fish and Wildlife began investigating Dickson in 2009 after a California Fish and Wildlife Department employee noticed some ads, posted by Dickson on Craigslist, for the illegal merchandise.

Later that same year, an undercover U.S. Fish and Wildlife agent contacted Dickson about the posts, specifically his ad for a stuffed polar bear, selling for $6,500. 

Dickson offered to sell the agent the mounted polar bear, a stuffed black bear, and the eagle, and said he knew that it was illegal to sell all three of them, Haag said.

Also confiscated from Dickson's home were a stuffed Siberian tiger, a Kodiac bear, and Grizzly bear. 

Dickson's attorney, Daniel Blank, and the attorney representing the U.S. in the case, Stacey Geis, could not be reached before publication of this article, although the San Jose Mercury News reports that Blank asked the judge for leniency before the sentencing. 

Bay City News contributed to this report.