Probation ordered for illegal feather sales

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — An Oklahoma man has been sentenced in Kansas for selling feathers from federally protected eagles and hawks to undercover federal agent.

The U.S. Attorney's office says 33-year-old Brian Stoner, of Ponca City, was placed Wednesday on one year of federal probation.

Stoner pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of violating a federal law on selling wildlife taken illegally. He admitted offering to sell the feathers to an undercover agent of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service during a 2009 meeting in Lawrence.

Prosecutors said the feathers came from three kinds of eagles and two kinds of hawks.

U.S. law allows Native Americans to possess such feathers under proper circumstances, but sales are banned.