He put pythons in his pants and headed to US by bus — and could go to prison, feds say

A man stepped on a bus in Montreal, Canada, destined for New York City with three reptilian passengers — Burmese pythons — hidden inside his pants, according to court documents.

Once the bus crossed the U.S.-Canada border at the Champlain Port of Entry in upstate New York on July 15, 2018, he broke federal law, McClatchy News previously reported.

Now the 37-year-old, of Queens, New York, is facing up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000, according to federal prosecutors.

A review of the man’s passport at the border crossing led to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer finding the young adult pythons near the man’s inner thigh inside of a bag, court documents show. The bag was tied to his pant’s drawstring, according to a plea agreement.

On June 28, the man pleaded guilty to smuggling the creatures into the U.S., the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York announced in a news release.

McClatchy News contacted a federal public defender representing the man for comment on June 29 and didn’t immediately receive a response. Although prosecutors have publicly identified him, McClatchy News isn’t naming him since he’s not a accused of a crime that’s caused direct physical harm to another person.

When the man was caught with the snakes worth over $2,500, he initially tried lying about what kind of species they were, according to the plea agreement, which says the bag they were hidden in listed the name of a Canadian reptile store he bought them from.

Burmese pythons are considered “injurious to human beings” by the Secretary of the Interior and can grow up to 16 feet in length, according to the plea agreement. It’s illegal to bring these invasive pythons into the U.S. unless a person obtains a permit issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

After the man admitted he did not have the proper paperwork or permits for the snakes, he wrote a statement acknowledging he was stopped with “3 baby Burmese pythons” that he didn’t declare, according to the plea agreement.

He is accused of violating the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Treaty and other federal regulations involving importing wild animals into the country, the plea agreement says.

Under the CITES Treaty, Burmese pythons are considered creatures “not presently threatened with extinction but may become so if their trade was not regulated,” according to the plea agreement.

To bring Burmese pythons into the U.S., he should’ve had a CITES document issued by Canada, the plea agreement says.

The man’s sentencing hearing is set for Oct. 26, prosecutors said.

Burmese pythons are native to southern and southeastern Asia. The longest python of the species recorded grew up to 16.8 feet and was found in Florida, according to the Florida Museum.

This story was originally published June 29, 2023 at 8:41 AM with the headline "He put pythons in his pants and headed to US by bus — and could go to prison, feds say."

Julia Marnin

McClatchy DC

Julia Marnin covers courts for McClatchy News, writing about criminal and civil affairs, including cases involving policing, corrections, civil liberties, fraud, and abuses of power. As a reporter on McClatchy’s National Real-Time Team, she’s also covered the COVID-19 pandemic and a variety of other topics since joining in 2021, following a fellowship with Newsweek. Born in Biloxi, Mississippi, she was raised in South Jersey and is now based in New York State.