A federal judge ordered a $15,000 fine Monday for a Maui rancher who arranged the transportation of axis deer and mouflon rams between Maui and Hawaii island.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Richard L. Puglisi also sentenced Arrow One Ranch owner Jeffrey Scott Grundhauser to one year of probation and ordered him to perform 100 hours of community service with the Maui Invasive Species Committee.
Puglisi also ordered Daniel R. Rocha of Mountain View on Hawaii island, who provided the rams, to pay a $1,000 fine and complete 100 hours of community service.
Both men pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act, a federal law enacted to prevent hunters from poaching game in one state and selling the bounty in another. In recent years the law has been used to prevent the introduction of alien animals into native ecosystems.
THE state wants to keep axis deer from Maui, Lanai and Molokai off other islands. It also wants to prevent the spread of mouflon sheep from established populations on Hawaii island to Maui.
Federal prosecutor Michael Song said Grundhauser sent Rocha four axis deer in December 2009 by helicopter. One deer died during transport.
Song said Rocha released the remaining three, a buck and two does.
In exchange for the deer, Rocha provided Grundhauser with 14 mouflon rams. Song said Grundhauser also gave Rocha $1,000 for additional sheep.
Grundhauser, 53, pleaded guilty in August.
Rocha, 65, pleaded guilty Monday to selling Grundhauser the 14 purebred mouflon rams, which he possessed illegally.
