Looks like it came around to bite them.
A host on the Discovery Channel and his business partner face more than a year in prison after prosecutors say he and another man tried to illegally sell and smuggle snakes across state lines, the Justice Department announced.
Robert Keszey, 48, hosts the cable show “Swamp Brothers” and co-owned a Florida reptile dealership with Robroy MacInnes, 55. But the two were caught in a series of snake smuggling operations that took place between 2006 and 2008.
Federal investigators said the two took protected snakes from Pennsylvania and New Jersey as well as a number of eastern timber rattlesnakes from New York and tried to sell them for $800 a head in Europe.
The pair also nabbed a number of protected eastern indigo snakes from Florida — the longest native North American snake species — which they tried to sell for $1,000.
The Discovery Channel has not yet released a statement about the conviction.
Mr. Keszey faces 12 months in prison and Mr. MacInnes faces 18 months.
In addition to the animal trafficking charges, the Justice Department noted that it is “illegal to possess an eastern timber rattlesnake without a permit in Pennsylvania.”
• Phillip Swarts can be reached at pswarts@washingtontimes.com.
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