ORLANDO, Fla. _ Two turtle egg thieves from Palm Beach County will serve prison time.
They went digging in the beach sand last year to steal hundreds of loggerhead sea turtle eggs. The loot could've fetched as much as $2,250 on the black market, authorities say.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Marra on Friday sentenced Carl Lawrence Cobb, 60, and Raymond Saunders, 50, both of Riviera Beach, to seven months in prison. They were convicted of transporting sea turtle eggs for the purpose of selling them.
There's a black market for turtle eggs in South Florida, partly because of the sheer number of egg nests in the region, authorities say. Of Florida's 128,129 nests counted in 2015, almost half were in Broward, Palm Beach, Martin and St. Lucie counties.
An estimated tens of thousands of sea turtle eggs are stolen each year, but arrests are rare. Poachers generally sell the loot _ which are a threatened species _ for $3 to $5 per egg, according to wildlife authorities.
In May, a witness told the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission that a man was disturbing sea turtle nests on North Hutchinson Island.
In one instance, Cobb removed more than 200 eggs from two sea turtle nests, officials said. Later that month, law enforcement officials saw Cobb and Saunders remove 469 sea turtle eggs from nests on North Hutchinson Island.
Lt. Mike Ornold, with the wildlife commission, watched Cobb's red Mazda truck driving north on State Road A1A in Martin County and park at the beach in an area called Blind Creek. A surveillance camera captured Cobb and Saunders walk to the beach and taking the eggs.
Authorities arrested the pair and recovered the eggs. A lieutenant stopped them on the highway while they were heading to Palm Beach County. Marine biologists relocated the eggs hoping some would yield hatchlings, the Department of Justice said Wednesday.
Sea turtle eggs are considered a staple in some coastal cultures. They are considered a delicacy and sometimes used to craft jewelry or for medicines. But Cobb recognizes "the United States has outlawed the consumption of sea turtle eggs," his attorney, Brian Mallonee, wrote.
In court documents, Mallonee said his client "was caught in a moment of weakness and is genuinely remorseful."
Riviera Beach Mayor Thomas Masters wrote the judge on city letterhead asking for leniency for Cobb, saying he has worked with charities feeding the poor.
Masters wrote he hoped Cobb "will put this situation behind him and move forward with his life and family."
