A Chicago man was arrested Monday after police made the unsavory discovery he was illegally selling Indiana wildlife to food markets in the Windy City.
Alexander Moy, 47, is being held in the Starke County Jail in Knox, Ind., roughly 90 minutes east of Chicago and is charged with two counts of buying and selling wildlife. Both offenses are Class D felonies, according to NBC Chicago.
Lt. Thomas Torsell of the DNR said Moy illegally bought the wildlife from hunters and fishermen and in turn sold the products to marketplaces in Chicago, particularly to eateries in Chinatown and possibly other parts of the city.
“We’re talking about some fish, turtles, raccoons and white-tailed deer,” Torsell said according to CBS Chicago.
The Northwest Indiana Times reports Moy told officials with the DNR the raccoons and turtles were mostly used for soup while the deer was "mixed in with other meat."
Officials are still determining where the meat ended up and if Moy is part of a larger ring of illegal wildlife transactions. More arrests in the investigation are expected.
Moy's arrest comes after a two-year-long undercover investigation by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources, the Times reports. Allegations that Moy was buying white-tailed deer from local Indiana residents date back to 2011.
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