GULFPORT, Miss. – Three men from Slidell, Louisiana now owe the Mississippi State Wildlife Agency $1.5 million for smuggling 52 white tailed deer into Pearl River and Lamar Counties between 2011 and 2012.
The men were sentenced Thursday in federal court. U.S. District Judge Sul Ozerden also sentenced Braine Reine to nine months in in prison, Ronald Reine to six months of house arrest, and Bruce Swilley will have nine months of house arrest. Their company, Omni Pinnacle was also placed on probation for five year for felony importing.
Smuggling deer into Mississippi violates state and federal conservation laws that are meant to protect deer populations from foreign diseases such as chronic wasting disease and bovine tuberculosis.
