A December 2023 photo of the Marco Polo argali sheep cloned by Jack Schubarth, called Montana Mountain King. (Photo via U.S. Attorney’s Office)
The Vaughn man who earlier this year pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act by cloning and trafficking a large species of an Asian sheep and selling hybrid offspring DNA was sentenced Monday to six months in prison.
The prison sentence for Arthur “Jack” Schubarth, 81, was about one-quarter of what he could have been sentenced to under federal sentencing guidelines, according to a sentencing memo from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
The memo said Schubarth at his age was unlikely to attempt the same crimes again and that he had been helpful in cooperating with the government after his arrest, providing officials with genetic testing showing which of his animals could be dangerous to wild animals, helping them care for the animals, and declining compensation for the animals that had to be killed and given to Montanans for meat.
But in the sentencing memo, the U.S. Attorney’s Office also said a sentence that included prison could deter others from committing the same crimes.
“There is no shortage of examples as to the devastating impacts wreaked by escaped invasive or exotic species,” the memo said, listing off snakehead fish, zebra mussels, wild hogs, and Burmese pythons as examples in the U.S. “…Some actions leading to these problems were careless and some intentional. Yet with a just punishment, this Court can take a step towards averting the next ecological disaster and protect the public from wide-ranging negative consequences.”
Along with the sixth-month prison sentence, Judge Brian Morris ordered Schubarth to pay a $20,000 fine to the Lacey Act Reward Fund, $4,000 to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and a $200 special assessment. He will also have three years of unsupervised release following his prison sentence.
The Lacey Act prohibits people from selling, transporting, or buying wildlife through interstate commerce when they knew it was being transported or sold in violation of federal or state law, or if it was falsely labeled.
According to federal prosecutors, from 2013 through 2021, Schubarth worked with at least five others to try to create a large hybrid sheep that could be hunted at captive hunting operations, typically fenced-in land. He brought parts of the world’s largest sheep, the Marco Polo argali sheep, from Kyrgyzstan illegally.
He sent genetic material from the animal’s parts to a lab to clone the animal, then implanted embryos in other sheep at his Schubarth Ranch in Vaughn, leading to the birth of a cloned Marco Polo argali he named “Montana Mountain King.”
He used that animal’s semen to artificially inseminate several other species of sheep that are illegal in Montana to create hybrids, hoping to sell large sheep to captive hunting facilities across the U.S., but primarily in Texas, according to court documents.
The group forged inspection certificates, Schubarth sold his pure clone’s semen directly to other breeders, and at least two of the sheep he was involved in creating died from a contagious chronic wasting disease.
According to the government, he also illegally purchased the testicles of large Rocky Mountain bighorn sheep killed in Montana from outfitters and sold them to others.
“This case exemplifies the serious threat that wildlife trafficking poses to our native species and ecosystems,” said Edward Grace, the assistance director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement. “Mr. Schubarth’s actions not only violated multiple laws designed to protect wildlife, but also risked introducing diseases and compromising the genetic integrity of our wild sheep populations.”
As part of the plea agreement, Schubarth wrote to the judge in February explaining his long background with exotic animals and Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. He also asked for house arrest because of health problems and a lack of a criminal record and apologized for his actions.
“My biggest fault is I become extremely passionate in any project I take on. This is what happened with my sheep project. I got my normal mind set clouded by my enthusiasm and looked for any grey area in the law to make the best sheep I could for this sheep industry,” he wrote. “I’m very sorry for my actions and deeply ashamed and I’m sorry I have caused my family pain and a loss of money. My family has never been broke, but we are now.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and FWP continue to investigate the case. Court records show Schubarth sold to people in Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Oregon, South Dakota, Texas and West Virginia.
“Schubarth’s criminal conduct is not how Montanans treat our wildlife population,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana Jesse Laslovich said in a statement. “…Such actions to create hybrid animals are as unnatural as they are illegal, and I applaud the extensive collaboration and diligence of all of our law enforcement partners to bring Schubarth to justice.”