FRANKLIN – Pennsylvania Game Commission Wildlife Conservation OfficerLawrence Hergenroeder recently filed charges against Candas Lynn Rohrdanz, of Sharon, Mercer County, for attempting to illegally sell feathers from a number of protected birds on an Internet auction site.
Charges filed were for unlawful selling and possession of wildlife parts of protected birds. As part of a Special Operations Division investigation, Game Commission officers purchased feathers from Rohrdanza from a red-shouldered hawk, crow, blackbird, Canada goose, gull, blue jay, barred owl, turkey vulture, and wild turkey. Penalties for nine of the charges of illegally selling and possessing wildlife parts range from $75 to $200 for each count, and penalties for the one charge of unlawful selling and possessing of parts a protected bird range from $100 to $300.
The case began when Game Commission WCO Matt Teehan, of Lehigh County, discovered Rohrdanz’s offer to sell feathers on an Internet auction website. Following up on the information, on Aug. 31, Game Commission Special Operations Investigators purchased several feathers for a bid of $15.34.
In cooperation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the feathers were sent for a morphology examination at the forensic laboratory in Ashland, Oregon.