An Ohio pet shop owner outraged at brokers of smuggled, possibly diseased Mexican parrots helped government agents run a two-year sting operation resulting in planned prosecutions in six states.
Carol Rueve said she and her husband, Frank, helped the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigate illegal parrot trafficking because "it kind of rubbed me wrong" when middlemen tried to sell them illegal birds.The investigation operated out of their Dayton-area Driftwood Pet Shops, where an undercover agent posed as the shops' parrot-buying agent from August 1986 to August 1988.
The probe culminated Monday with the announcement that U.S. attorneys in Indiana, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, Texas and California have agreed to seek indictments against 36 people.