FOLLOW UP to Scientist Selling Snake Story

[CharlieJ]

Original Story

MORRISTOWN, N.J. (AP) - September 20, 2006 - A judge in Morris County has cleared the man in charge of the Liberty Science Center's reptile and amphibian collection of selling a serpent without a license.

The judge says the state failed to show that Danny Mendez engaged in a retail transaction. The judge reversed a 750 dollar fine that was imposed by a municipal court judge in Harding.

Mendez arranged to sell a yellow Amazon Tree Boa to an undercover agent in 2005. Mendez said the snake was from his private collection and the sale was allowed under his hobbyist license.

[CharlieJ]

Judge: Expert's snake sale wasn't a crime
Decision overturns 2005 ruling over Amazon Tree Boa
BY PEGGY WRIGHT
DAILY RECORD

A Superior Court judge in Morristown on Wednesday cleared a Liberty Science Center snake specialist of illegally trying to sell an Amazon Tree Boa last year to a state zoologist posing as an eager buyer.

In a 21-page written decision released by Judge Joseph A. Falcone, he acquitted Harding resident Daniel J. Mendez of a civil charge of violating a state statute against selling a regulated snake without a required permit.

"It is the inescapable conclusion of this court that the state's evidence does not lead a reasonably cautious mind to conclude that the sale of the yellow Amazon Tree Boa was a retail transaction," the judge wrote, in overturning a guilty finding in December by Harding Municipal Court Judge Robert Schaul.

The municipal judge had fined Mendez $750 plus $33 court costs.

Falcone, who reviewed the municipal trial record and heard Mendez's appeal in August, found that Mendez was not engaged in retailing snakes, but legitimately used the individual hobby permit he has held since 1988 to sell one snake from the large, private collection he maintains at his home.

The case landed in court when Mendez --through his Web site Urbanjungles.com --posted an advertisement on Kingsnake.com for the sale of one adult, yellow Amazon Tree Boa in January 2005. Steven McCaughey, a zoologist in the Wildlife Permit Unit of the state Division of Fish and Wildlife, saw the ad and started an investigation.

The ad stated: "This outstanding yellow male is a LTC (long-term captive) that chows down on readily-thawed mice. If he was a female I wouldn't part with this animal." The ad advised viewers to "e-mail with any questions" and it included a link for Mendez' Web site, Urbanjungles.com, Falcone's decision said.

McCaughey contended the Urbanjungles site had links to availability and price-list, a photo gallery and shipping and payment information. He e-mailed Mendez with the intent of buying the boa.

The two met on Jan. 13, 2005, in the parking lot of the Liberty Science Center -- where Mendez is curator of the reptile and amphibian exhibits -- and agreed to the transaction. McCaughey had conservation officers waiting nearby, who moved in to tell Mendez he was selling a regulated snake without a permit.

Aside from the aborted transaction, state officials also alleged that the elaborate set-up Mendez had in his home to accommodate 14 Emerald Tree Boas, three Hybrid Tree Boas, one Ball Python, and 15 other snakes was proof he was breeding and retailing the reptiles. Mendez is past president of the New Jersey Herpetological Society.

Falcone accepted Mendez's representations that he was merely selling one snake as a hobbyist, and he found that the state had no evidence he ever sold another snake. Mendez had maintained that he set up the Urbanjungles.com site solely for informational purposes and that a friend he paid $200 to design the site copied similar Web sites and added shipping and handling information.

Mendez had stated he bought the Amazon Tree Boa for his collection and only decided to re-sell it -- for the $250 he paid -- because he did not have a compatible female snake to be its companion.