JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION (Atlanta, Georgia) 24 March 08 What Ever Happened To ... The Lawrenceville Collector Of Rare Turtles: Hoping for return of turtles - Amateur herpetologist Steve Santhuff wants to get them back now that he's been acquitted. (George Chidi)
Steve Santhuff wandered about the field of empty plastic terrariums in his back yard, wondering how long the government will keep his turtles.
The ones that lived, that is.
Georgia Department of Natural Resources officials may have Santhuff's turtles, but they don't have Santhuff anymore. After almost three years of legal combat with state and federal officials, a Gwinnett County jury last month acquitted the amateur herpetologist of criminal charges related to his collection of rare and endangered map turtles.
Now Santhuff wants the government to return his collection. But the return of his irreplaceable menagerie continues at a tortoise's pace.
State and federal wildlife enforcement officers seized about 500 turtles from Santhuff's Lawrenceville home in 2005 after a joint investigation.
The case resembled a drug investigation. According to the court records, Santhuff received $400 from a Fish and Wildlife Service agent in September 2004 to make an illegal purchase of turtles as part of a federal undercover operation into the illegal trade of endangered species.
The beautiful shells of map turtles —- as well as their use in exotic food and medicine in some parts of Asia —- have made them valuable black market products.
Santhuff said he reported the purchase to federal authorities and to the state attorney general's office, expecting an investigation into corruption among wildlife officials. But federal and state agents instead used that purchase as part of their evidence to obtain a search warrant against Santhuff. Nine months later, the agents served the warrant and seized his collection, charging him with possessing endangered species without a permit.
"They didn't come to get them because of permits," Santhuff alleges. "They came because were valuable."
Georgia DNR officers initially took the turtles to a fish hatchery near Social Circle, about 50 miles east of Atlanta, for safekeeping. Some are now kept at the Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, while others are at Zoo Atlanta, said Thomas Floyd, a DNR wildlife biologist tied to the case.
They're not on display, however, so you can't go see Santhuff's turtles with the kids. "They're receiving the utmost care," Floyd said.
Since the seizure, dozens died from infections and the stress of the move. Santhuff said they may have been mishandled by DNR officials, while Floyd said many were sick at the time of the raid. Santhuff claims many more turtles died than the state admits. And some have somehow vanished —-showing up on one state property receipt while absent from subsequent state reports, Santhuff said.
Floyd denies that the state has any underhanded motives.
"It's no conspiracy. The state has acted in the best interest of the natural resources," Floyd said. "The simple fact is that he was in possession of protected state-listed species without a permit."
Floyd said he believes that even though Santhuff was acquitted by a jury, it does not mean he was not in violation of the law.
Because the charges were misdemeanors, Gwinnett's solicitor's office prosecuted the case. Santhuff faced one to 15 years in prison if convicted.
The jury keyed in on inconsistencies in the testimony of state officials, Santhuff said, pointing to a claim Floyd made during trial about having helped classify some turtle species from a wildlife biologist, who later contradicted Floyd on the witness stand.
Floyd denied that his testimony had been inconsistent. "The verdict in the criminal trial does not negate those concerns or our mission."
Allison B. Cauthen, the Gwinnett assistant solicitor who prosecuted the case, described the verdict as an act of jury nullification.
"They followed their emotions and not the law," she said. "This is a cut and dried case. There is no permit on record at DNR, and that's what the law requires."
But Santhuff argued that because he had collected the turtles with valid permits from other states, his collection was legal.
Santhuff isn't sure when he will be in court next to pursue the return of his collection. But he's grinning ear to ear, waiting to refill his tanks with them.
Hoping for return of turtles

[ Show Entire Thread ]