Taxidermist gets 2 years for sale of rhino horns

A Maquoketa taxidermist convicted of selling endangered black rhinoceros horns with a known trafficker was sentenced Tuesday to over two years in federal prison.

James Hess, owner of Wildlife Pride Taxidermy and Décor, pleaded guilty in May to violating the Lacey Act, which prohibits interstate trade of certain wildlife, including endangered species. Hess bought rhino horns in Oregon and shipped them back to Iowa.

According to the plea agreement, Hess purchased rhino horns from a person in Oregon for $16,000 in August 2011 to sell to another person in Oregon. But when the deal fell through, he called Wade Steffen, a former Texas rodeo performer who became a wildlife trafficker, to see whether he was interested in buying the horns.

Steffen ultimately bought the horns on behalf of Felix Kha in California. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Agent Justin Mays testified Tuesday that Kha illegally shipped horns to black markets in China and Taiwan for big profits. Kha was convicted in 2012 of trafficking. 

Hess was nabbed during a U.S. Fish and Wildlife investigation, Operation Crash, which started in 2011 after prices of rhino horns and ivory began 'skyrocketing” overseas, Mays said.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, the black rhino is a critically endangered species, with just over 4,800 animals in Namibia and eastern Africa.

Mays said authorities gathered evidence linking Hess to Steffen through phone records, text messages and emails. Steffen was convicted of trafficking in 2012.

Hess made an emotional statement in court, saying he pleaded guilty and took responsibility to save his family and son from more grief. He wanted to come forward after learning the kind of profit that could be made from this 'enterprise,” but he feared for his life. Hess said he didn't initially know about the horns being sent overseas.

Hess also said he always had tried to obey the law, and poaching always had been a 'pet peeve of mine.”