Polar bear importer pleads guilty

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD/AP) - An Ottawa County man who killed a 7-foot polar bear more than a decade ago has pleaded guilty to illegally bringing the trophy mount across the U.S. border.

Rodger DeVries, 73, of Georgetown Township, faces sentencing Sept. 8 on a misdemeanor of knowingly and unlawfully using a U.S. port or harbor to import polar bear parts without obtaining a permit.

He pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court in Grand Rapids, according to the Department of Justice. The charge carries a maximum sentence of one year in jail and $100,000 in fines.

"The polar bear is an ecological and cultural treasure of the American and Canadian Arctic," Ignacia S. Moreno, assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division, said in a statement Wednesday. "We will not tolerate the illegal importation of polar bear trophies and will fully prosecute all violations of federal law."

Defense lawyer Terry Tobias described DeVries as an "avid hunter" who has acknowledged his mistake in not getting proper U.S. permission, the Grand Rapids Press reports. He obtained permits from the Canadian government, including an export permit, and complied with Indian and province laws.

"Our laws don't prohibit going to Canada and shooting a polar bear. Where he made his mistake was, when he brought it back to the U.S.," Tobias said.

DeVries paid an outfitter $12,500 for the hunt, and the bear was killed in November 2000 in Canada's Nunavut Territory. It was kept in storage until 2007, when authorities said DeVries moved the bear and its skull to Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

In July 2007, DeVries, his son and two grandchildren drove in his truck, hauling a 24-foot boat, and picked up the bear and skull, and the boat was used to cross the border from St. Joseph Island in Ontario to Raber Bay, north of St. Ignace, Mich.

His son drove the truck to the U.S. and picked up the others in the boat, according to a plea agreement signed by DeVries. The bear and its skull were taken to DeVries' second home on Torch Lake, and later were taken to his Georgetown Township home, records showed.

Since 2008, when polar bears were listed as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act, the Marine Mammal Protection Act has prohibited the importation of polar bear parts or trophies for personal use from Canada, the Justice Department said.
 

Information from the Associated Press and Grand Rapids Press contributed to this story