No matter the airplane, you never know who might be listening to your conversation. That’s what happened to a California couple convicted of several hunting violations last week after a chance encounter on a plane flight from San Diego.
Byron Lee Fitzpatrick, 24, and Shannon Lee Price, 28, were chatting about their illegal hunting and smuggling on a November 2023 flight, according to California wildlife officials.
Seated in front of them were two canine officers from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). Dressed in plain clothes after attending a training event in San Diego, the two officers overheard the couple talking about hunting, according to a CDFW news release.
The officers began talking to the couple, and even acknowledged their jobs as wildlife officers, but “the suspects didn’t believe them,” CDFW spokesman Andrew Halverson told GearJunkie this week.
As a result, the “unsuspecting couple” disclosed that they were illegally transporting a sea turtle skull from the East Coast in their luggage. Fitzpatrick and Price also discussed illegally hunting a mountain lion, which is a protected species in California, and a family “trophy room” in Napa County with other animals taken illegally.
Once off the plane, the wildlife officers asked the couple to show them the sea turtle skull. Fitzpatrick and Price “acknowledged the potential unlawful possession” and avoided Transportation Security Administration officers before reaching into their carry-on bag for the skull of a green sea turtle, a federally listed endangered species.
Now, the couple — and another family member — have pled guilty to several fish and game violations.
Plea Deal Offers Fines, Probation
The case didn’t end with the turtle skull.
During the conversation with the wildlife officers, Fitzpatrick showed them a video of the Napa Valley home of his uncle Harry Vern Fitzpatrick, who had stuffed mountain lions, wolves, and a wolverine on display. Once the officers returned to their home districts in Northern California, they received search warrants for the couple’s residence in Chico as well as Harry Vern Fitzpatrick’s residence in Napa County.
Those searches quickly yielded results.
While serving the search warrant in Butte County, wildlife officers found the couple processing a deer taken illegally earlier the same day. Deer season was closed, and the suspects had no deer tags.
Inside the residence, wildlife officers also found mountain lion claws, a ringtail cat, a barn owl mount, an illegal spike buck, and several unlawfully taken deer with tagging violations. At the Napa County residence, wildlife officers discovered two mountain lions and a wolverine, all stuffed and all taken illegally.
District attorneys in Butte County and Napa County brought charges against all three suspects for violations of federal wildlife laws.
The couple reached a plea agreement on January 30. Fitzpatrick was fined $1,865, and Price must pay $1,015. They were also placed on one year of probation that bans them from hunting. Harry Vern Fitzpatrick was fined $605 and ordered to serve 6 months of probation for two violations of the U.S. Fish and Game Code.
“This case exemplifies the unwavering preparedness and swift action demonstrated by our wildlife officers,” said CDFW Chief of Law Enforcement Nathaniel Arnold. “The individuals involved exhibited a flagrant disregard for laws governing natural resources and are now being held accountable for their actions.”
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