Three Men Plead Guilty to Poaching More than 40 Bobcats and Exporting them to Canada

CONCORD –Three men pleaded guilty this week in federal court to violating the Lacey Act, illegally hunting dozens of wild Bobcats in New Hampshire in order to ship the animals’ pelts to Canada, U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan announces.

Sherwood Dubrey, Jr., 48, and Randy Inman, 49, pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the Lacey Act and Sherwood Dubrey Sr., 72, pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act before U.S. District Judge Joseph N. Laplante this week. The Court scheduled sentencing for each defendant in January 2027. Dubry Jr. and Inman face a maximum prison term of five years and no more than three years of supervised release; Dubrey Sr. faces a maximum prison term of one year and no more than one year of supervised release.  

Enacted 126 years ago, the Lacey Act protects the nation’s wildlife resources by prohibiting wildlife violations that cross state or international borders. The bobcat (Lynx rufus) is a wild cat native to North America. In New Hampshire, it is unlawful to hunt or trap bobcats. To export a lawfully hunted bobcat pelt, the law requires that hunters obtain a tag under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (or CITES). Because hunting bobcats is illegal in New Hampshire, New Hampshire does not have an export program for bobcats and does not distribute CITES tags for bobcats. New York, which has a lawful bobcat hunting season, has an export program for bobcats and provides successful trappers or hunters of bobcats CITES tags.