Mississippi man sentenced after ‘deliberate and senseless shooting of a bald eagle’

A Mississippi man was sentenced in federal court for his role in shooting a bald eagle, which is a protected species, the United States Attorney’s Office Northern District of Mississippi said in a release.

Timothy Lee Childers, 69, of Aberdeen pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a misdemeanor after killing a bald eagle in violation of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act.

The incident took place at Childers’ property in Monroe County on Sept. 11, 2020.

The court has ordered Childers to pay $3,150 restitution to the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers and a fine of $3,500 to the Lacey Act, which was the first federal law passed in 1900 to protect wildlife.

He also had to forfeit the firearm and scope used to kill the bald eagle, and he has been placed on a one-year probation.

Clay Joyner, acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi, Stephen Clark, special agent in charge of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and Colonel Steve Advock, chief of Law Enforcement for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, announced the sentence Thursday afternoon.

“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Office of Law Enforcement continues to work diligently to protect bald eagles and their habitat,” Clark said. “In this case, which involved the deliberate and senseless shooting of a bald eagle that was flying near a residence, we are pleased that justice has been served.”

The investigation was conducted by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement and the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie Addison.