GRAND RAPIDS, MI – A West Michigan man pleaded guilty in federal court Thursday on a charge of trafficking several snakes whose species are threatened over state lines.

Van Buren County resident Scott Allen Hitchcock was accused of purchasing two Louisiana pine snakes and one black pine snake for $1,000 in Goshen, Indiana, and bringing them back to Michigan in June 2020.

Both species are classified as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

In U.S. District Court on Thursday, Sept. 25, Hitchcock pleaded guilty to trafficking under the Lacey Act, which prohibits transporting, importing or selling fish and wildlife that have been illegally taken in violation of other state, federal or foreign laws.

According to court records, the federal misdemeanor is punishable by up to a year in

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