Plant poachers pinched

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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WYFF has the story:

ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Eight people were sentenced to time in prison after pleading guilty to poaching a protected species of plant in North Carolina.
U.S. Attorney Gretchen Shappert and Blue Ridge Parkway Chief Ranger John Garrison announced the arrests Wednesday.
A release from Shappert’s office said that the poachers targeted galax, an indigenous plant that grows near the Parkway between N.C. State Highway 80 and Mount Mitchell State Park. Galax is sold to warehouses where its leaves are in turn sold to florists. Galax leaves are priced at from 1 cent to 5 cents per leaf.

Investigators said that during the operation that led to the arrests, they seized more than 50,000 galax plants.
The men and women arrested were from 23 to 35 years old. Most of them were from Burnsville, N.C. Six of them pleaded guilty and were sentenced to 30 days in jail, fined and banned from federal land for two years. Two others, who were second-offenders, received sentences of six-months in prison and were banned from federal land for two years.
Investigators said that Federico Solis and his wife, Carmen Reyes, had three duffel bags containing about 30,000 galax leaves when they were taken into custody.
There have been a total of 12 arrests and 42 citations for galax poaching in Western North Carolina since January 2008, according to the U.S. Forest Service.