A southwestern Colorado resident who illegally killed more than 30 mountain lions and bobcats, including animals from southeastern Utah, was sentenced Thursday to 27 months in prison and three years probation.

Christopher W. Loncarich of Mack, Colo., was sentenced for conspiring to violate the Lacey Act, a federal wildlife law.


As part of his outfitting business, 56-year-old Loncarich would trap lions and bobcats prior to his clients� hunts and hold them or injure them by "shooting the cats in the paws, stomach, and/or legs, or attaching leg-hold traps prior to the client arriving on scene," the release states.........

.Utah investigators suspect as many as 50 bobcats were illegally killed in the state and transported dead to Colorado. And Wood said his agency is confident at least 12, and as many as 15, mountain lions were killed in Utah.....

.Many of Loncarich�s clients did not have tags or licenses for Utah and sneaked the illegally killed animals into Colorado using coded language during radio communication to keep from being caught