CINCINNATI — A man accused of trafficking turtles in Cincinnati and striking an area wildlife officer with his car has been indicted.
Alonso Oliver-Tucker, 37, of Pennsylvania, was indicted by a Hamilton County grand jury on charges of assault on a police officer and failure to comply with an order of a police officer, according to a release.
In July, State Wildlife Officer Brad Turner, assigned to Preble County, got a tip reporting turtles being sold in Cincinnati, according to a media release.
Turner and Wildlife Officer Andrew Dowdell, assigned to Butler County, responded to where the turtles were allegedly being sold.
The officers found two men selling red-eared sliders without the required propagation permit.
While officers talked with Oliver-Tucker he allegedly disobeyed officer’s verbal commands and drove away in his car.
While he accelerated he hit Turner with his car.
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Turner was taken to an area hospital and released the same evening.
An arrest warrant was filed for Oliver-Tucker by the Cincinnati Police Department. He was arrested days later in Pennsylvania.
Officers seized more than 100 red-eared sliders.
Oliver-Tucker could face additional wildlife violations including include failure to obtain a propagation permit, failure to keep record of sales, failure to attach Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tags to turtles used in commercial sale, and deterrence of a wildlife officer.
The case remains under investigation.
Wildlife officials said anyone can report a wildlife violation through the Turn-In-A-Poacher (TIP) program. Wildlife violations can be reported anonymously by calling 800-POACHER (762-2437).
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