An 80-year-old man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to two felony wildlife crimes connected to his years-long efforts to create giant hybrid sheep using cloning and illegal insemination, federal prosecutors said.
Arthur "Jack" Schubarth was creating the hybrid sheep as a target for hunters at private facilities, officials said. He violated both international and federal law, Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division said.
"This was an audacious scheme to create massive hybrid sheep species to be sold and hunted as trophies," Kim said in a statement.
Schubarth, who owns a 215-acre alternative livestock ranch in Montana, conspired with several others starting in 2013, officials said. They were working to create a large hybrid species of sheep to sell to game ranches.
The Montana man brought parts of the Marco Polo argali sheep, which can weigh more than 300 pounds, into the U.S. from Kyrgyzstan without declaring the importation, authorities said. The sheep species is protected internationally by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and protected domestically by the U.S. Endangered Species Act. The species, which is the largest type of sheep in the world, is prohibited in Montana as a way of protecting native sheep from disease and hybridization.
"Schubarth sent genetic material from the argali parts to a lab to create cloned embryos," prosecutors said.
Schubarth provided a deposit of $4,200 for the cloning in 2015, according to the indictment, and received 165 cloned Marco Polo embryos on Nov. 22, 2016.
"Schubarth then implanted the embryos in ewes on his ranch, resulting in a single, pure genetic male Marco Polo argali that he named 'Montana Mountain King' or MMK," prosecutors said.
Montana Mountain King's semen was used to artificially impregnate various other sheep and create hybrid animals, all with the goal of creating larger, more valuable sheep for hunting, officials said.
Schubarth and his unnamed conspirators allegedly forged veterinary inspection certificates to move the prohibited sheep in and out of Montana. He also sold Montana Mountain King's semen directly to other breeders, prosecutors said.
"The kind of crime we uncovered here could threaten the integrity of our wildlife species in Montana," Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks Chief of Enforcement Ron Howell said. "This was a complex case and the partnership between us and U.S Fish and Wildlife Service was critical in solving it."
Schubarth faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison for each felony count. He also faces a fine of up to $250,000 and three years of supervised release. Schubarth's set to be sentenced on July 11.
Aliza Chasan is a digital producer at 60 Minutes and CBSNews.com. She has previously written for outlets including PIX11 News, The New York Daily News, Inside Edition and DNAinfo. Aliza covers trending news, often focusing on crime and politics.
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