May 18, 2012
By Kevin P. Connolly, OrlandoSentinel.com
A 45-year-old Naples man faces as much as a year in prison and a
fine of up to $100,000 for killing a Florida Panther with a bow and
arrow in Collier County on October 9, 2009.
Todd Alan
Benfield, 45, pleaded guilty to violating the Endangered Species Act
when he intentionally shot the animal with a compound bow and a
3-blade broadhead-tipped arrow from a tree stand in the Golden Gate
Estates area of Collier County on Oct. 8, 2009, the U.S. Attorney's
Office announced today.
The next day, Benfield and another
person moved the panther in an attempt to hide the carcass. The day
after that, "Benfield removed his tree stand from the area in an
effort to conceal the fact that he had killed the panther,'' the
U.S. Attorney's Office said in a report.
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