Trial set over killing of gopher tortoises
ENVIRONMENT: Gasparilla landowner accused of killing protected reptiles
By Kate Spinner

CHARLOTTE COUNTY - A Gasparilla Island property owner is scheduled for trial in February on 12 felony counts of killing or wounding gopher tortoises, a Florida threatened species.

Hesam Oddin Mirani was arrested by state officers in June on charges that he destroyed 12 gopher tortoise burrows on a vacant Gasparilla Island lot he bought in 2005 for $512,500.

Samantha Syoen, communications director for the State Attorney's Office in Fort Myers, which is prosecuting the case, said Mirani wanted to built a home, but the property allegedly had tortoise burrows.

"Then they were no longer there, and that's the basis of the case," Syoen said.

The case is set for a jury trial in Punta Gorda on Feb. 1. The maximum sentence for conviction on the charges is 60 years in prison, Syoen said.

Mirani was released on $30,000 bail, according to records with the Charlotte County Clerk of Court.

Fort Myers attorney Charles Harris is representing Mirani, who entered a written plea of not guilty in June. Harris did not return messages left at his office.

Mirani, a former engineer for Parsons Brinckerhoff and owner of a business called Mirtek Engineering & Development Corp. with postal boxes in Orlando and Boca Grande, could not be reached.

"We believe there is an egregious issue here, which is why we've taken this to the State Attorney's Office," said Gary Morse, a spokesman for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Gopher tortoises are protected as a threatened species under state laws. Their burrows provide habitat for a number of other imperilled species, including the gopher mouse and the indigo snake.

"They're a keystone species, and they're extremely important in the environment of Florida," Morse said.

For years, some Florida counties allowed developers to bury the tortoises alive for a fee. The state outlawed that practice in 2007. Property owners are now required to keep the tortoises on their property or relocate them to a suitable site.

Mirani's alleged offense occurred in 2008, Syoen said. She said the commission asked for a warrant to arrest Mirani last year. He turned himself in in Orlando, Syoen said.

Neither the commission nor the State Attorney's Office would release further information.
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