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The wife of a Utah snake breeder who pleaded guilty to illegally transportation of boa constrictors says she has an interest in the extremely rare offspring of one of the snakes and the U.S. government shouldn't be able to confiscate them. But Brazil says the snakes belong to it.
Kara Stone has asked a U.S. District Court judge to find that she has a interest in the snakes as the wife of Jeremy Stone of Lindon, who last year pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor criminal charge in federal court in Utah. Brazil also is asking that the offspring of one of the snake illegally taken from that South American country be returned.
Jeremy Stone pleaded guilty in July to illegal transportation of wildlife for shipping four boa constrictors from Miami to Lindon in 2009. Four other charges were dropped as part of a plea deal and he was sentenced to 12 months probation.
The shipment was originally from Guyana and an import form said they were caught in the wild in that country on the north coast of South America. But, in fact, one of the snakes came from Brazil, which doesn't allow wild reptiles to be exported, according to court documents.
In 2006 Brazilian military firefighters found a rare leucitic boa constrictor in wild jungle in the state of Rio de Janeiro. Leucism is a rare condition that produces a white skin coloring and such snakes produce offspring known as "morph snakes," Brazil said in a petition to the court.
The snake was housed at the Niteroi Zoo in Rio de Janeiro until 2009, when Jeremy Stone illegally purchased it from the zoo administrator, the petition alleges.
"At the time the snake was smuggled out of Brazil it was the only known leucitic boa constrictor in the world," the Brazilian petition says.
The snake was known as Lucy or Diamond Princess, says a order filed in a case in the District of Columbia in which Brazil asked for the return of the snake's offspring.
A Brazilian court has ordered the seizure of the and her offspring and criminal proceedings are pending in Brazil against Jeremy Stone and the former zoo administrator, the D.C. petition says.
A D.C. judge ordered the seizure of the snakes and that order is now entered in the Utah case.
As part of a plea deal, Jeremy Stone agreed to forfeit seven offspring of the Brazilian snake that were housed at Hogle Zoo.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for Utah objected to Kara Stone's claim, saying she had failed to show she is entitled to ownership. Then last month, Kara Stone asked the court to allow her to amend her filing so a company called JSR Inc. could claim ownership.
Both sides in Utah are requesting hearings before U.S. District Judge Clark Waddoups to discuss the issues.