Department of Commerce
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
National Marine Fisheries Service
- Northern District of California

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 6, 2007

McKINLEY MAN CONVICTED OF THE UNLAWFUL TAKING OF A HARBOR SEAL PUP

EUREKA – United States Attorney Scott N. Schools announced Kenneth Wayne Eller was convicted of the Unlawful Taking of a Marine Mammal by a federal jury late yesterday. The jury, after deliberating for just over an hour, found that Eller did in fact take the baby harbor seal pup from Centerville Beach, near Eureka. The guilty verdict followed a two-day jury trial before U.S. Magistrate Court Judge Nandor J. Vadas.  This conviction is the result of an investigation by the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration's National Marine Fisheries Service (NOAA Fisheries Service).

The trial marked the first federal criminal jury trial in Eureka in over forty years. Evidence at trial showed that Mr. Eller, of McKinleyville, California, was with friends at the Centerville Beach near Eureka when they came across several seal pups. All of the seal pups appeared to be dead, except one. Eller took the seal pup in the back of a pick-up truck to the Bear River Casino in Loleta, where surveillance footage captures him showing it off and letting people pet it. He then carried it into friends' houses, and kept it overnight in Trinidad before it was eventually turned over to a Marine Mammal Center volunteer the next day. 

The investigation was tipped off with a call from a Bear River Casino employee to the California Department of Fish and Game informing them of a man showing off a seal pup in the casino parking lot. The Marine Mammal Center of Crescent City contacted the National Marine Fisheries Service when they took possession of the seal pup. The seal pup died shortly after being turned over to the Marine Mammal Center. It is unlawful to take, possess, harass, hunt, capture, collect, or kill any marine mammal in the United States.

The United States Attorney filed an Information November 7, 2006, charging Mr. Eller with knowingly taking a marine mammal, specifically a harbor seal pup (Phoca Vitulina), in waters or lands of the United States, in violation of Title 16, United States Code, Section 1372(a)(2).

Mr. Eller has been released on a $10,000 bond until his sentencing, which is scheduled for September 18, 2007, before Judge Nandor J. Vadas in Eureka. The maximum statutory penalty for a violation of Title 16, U.S.C. § 1372(a)(2) is one year imprisonment and a fine of $20,000. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553.

Derek Owens and Andrew Caputo are the Assistant U.S. Attorneys who are prosecuting the case with the assistance of law clerk Michael Perry, Nai Saelee, Tim Kingwell, and Sutton Peirce.  The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the NOAA Fisheries Service's Office of Law Enforcement.

Further Information:

Case #: CR 06-0735 NJV

A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney's Office's website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can 

Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl

Judges' calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court's website at www.cand.uscourts.gov 

All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney's Office should be directed to Natalya LaBauve at (415) 436-7055 or by email at Natalya.LaBauve@usdoj.gov

On the Web:

NOAA Fisheries Service: www.nmfs.noaa.gov
NOAA: www.noaa.gov