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Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

The Nerve of That Guy

LOS ANGELES (CN) - The former host of an Animal Planet TV show pleaded guilty Tuesday to selling endangered desert monitor lizards in interstate commerce.

Donald Schultz, 35, of Playa Vista, must pay $9,000 in fines and restitution and do 200 hours of community service, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

He was host of Animal Planet's "Wild Recon" TV show.

In his plea agreement, Schultz admitted that he sold two live desert monitor lizards to an undercover Fish and Wildlife Service agent in July 2010. Schultz sent them by air from Los Angeles to Buffalo, N.Y.

Desert monitor lizards are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act, and cannot be sold without a permit, which Schultz did not have.

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