Florida man convicted of trafficking migratory birds

BRANDON, Fla. — A federal jury in Central Florida convicted a Brandon man last week of three counts of trafficking migratory birds.

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36-year-old Ernesto Campos was the sixth person convicted in “Operation Ornery Birds II,” a joint, state-wide investigation by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

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According to court documents, Campos participated in the capture, sale and trade of protected migratory songbirds.

On at least three occasions in 2020 and 2021, the Department of Justice says Campos sold and traded indigo buntings, painted buntings, rose-breasted grosbeaks and blue grosbeaks, which are all protected by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

Investigators say Campos would trap the birds himself from the wild then sell them within the songbird community once they were tamed.

According to the Department of Justice, the birds are valued for their colorful plumage and singing abilities.

Five other men from the Tampa area have already been sentenced after admitting to trafficking in a variety of MBTA-protected birds:

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• Jorge Luis Mena Graveram Sr., 59, of St. Petersburg, was sentenced on Aug. 8 to time served, one year of supervised release and a $200 fine.
  
• Eliernesto Baez Garcia, 29, of St. Petersburg, was sentenced on Aug. 14 to time served, one year of supervised release and a $200 fine.
  
• Ariam Rodriguez Diaz, 32, of Ocala, was sentenced on Aug. 18 to one year of probation and a $1,000 fine.
  
• Jorge Alberto Gonzalez-Gonzalez, 57, of Tampa, was sentenced on Sept. 6 to one year of probation and a $1,000 fine.
  
• Adrian Michel Ortega Rodriguez, 42, of Tampa, was sentenced on Sept. 11 to one year of probation and a $500 fine.
  

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According to the Department of Justice, the defendants caught the birds using baited traps and through transactions with “like-minded individuals” either in person or through sales sites frequented by traffickers.

The case against Campos was  prosecuted by attorneys with the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.

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