In May, a Pennsylvania man who is the father of Indianapolis Colts safety Rodney Thomas II was charged with the murder of a bald eagle.
WXIN-TV reports that a federal grand jury indicted Rodney Thomas Sr. for violating the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. The allegation is a federal misdemeanor.
According to the New York Post, the eagle that was slain was one of two that had resided in Mount Pleasant, a Pittsburgh suburb, for nearly two decades.
The suspect confronts the possibility of a $100,000 fine and a one-year prison sentence.
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the indictment alleges that Thomas, of Canonsburg, “shot and killed a mature bald eagle with an air rifle on or about May 12, 2023, in Mount Pleasant.”
U.S. Attorney Eric Olshan stated, “This Office remains committed to investigating and prosecuting environmental and wildlife offenses under federal law, including the unlawful killing of bald eagles — the United States’ national bird since 1782.”
NFL safety Rodney Thomas’ father arrested for fatally shooting bald eagle https://t.co/uWVKHsLEKN pic.twitter.com/UA8LBYOOma
— New York Post (@nypost) July 23, 2023
“A symbolic species such as the bald eagle deserves our protection. My office, along with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the Pennsylvania Game Commission, and the Mount Pleasant Police Department worked diligently coordinating with each other to identify and charge the individual responsible and bring him to justice,” Washington County District Attorney Jason Walsh said.
Fox News reported that the suspect confessed the crime to the Pennsylvania Game Commission in May.
The eagle belonged to a partnership that had lately produced two eaglets.
“Everybody in the community has a pair of binoculars on the window sill in their kitchen, and we’re all very protective of all of our wildlife in our lake,” neighborhood bird lover Linda Carnevali said.
More on this story via The Western Journal:
“So you always knew when you only saw one of them that there were some babies around,” she said.
“We’re devastated that this would happen, and we don’t understand why somebody would do this,” Carnevali said. CONTINUE READING…