Buddy Pogmore: Jail for plot to export live lizards to China
A heavily-tatted western Sydney animal lover tried to send live live lizards to Asia through the post.
Blacktown
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A heavily-tattooed man who describes himself as an “animal lover” has been jailed over a plot to export six live Australian lizards to China.
Buddy Leigh Pogmore, 27, was sentenced on two counts of dealing in protected animals and one count of dealing in the proceeds of crime worth $50,000 or more.
According to police facts, police intercepted two suspicious packages sent from Rooty Hill and Marayong Post Offices to an address in Zhongshan City, China.
Both of the packages contained three shingleback lizards, and CCTV footage showed Pogmore lodging the parcels despite providing fake names at both post offices.
Police say he received $59,980 from various sources over a period of two years both before and after his attempts to export the lizards last year.
Pogmore was also subject to two police raids in 2017 and 2019 where officers found several illegal reptiles, including geckos, bearded dragons, and two deceased juvenile freshwater crocodiles.
He gave evidence in Penrith District Court on Friday afternoon, and told Judge Mark Buscombe he developed a fascination with reptiles at a young age when his uncle gave him a pet lizard.
He said he’d since travelled all over Australia to find reptiles to bring home for the purpose of keeping as pets or selling.
Pogmore started an Instagram page to show off his photography of his finds and as an “educational thing to teach others about animals”.
He gave evidence that a man from China messaged him on Instagram and started sending him money after Pogmore told him he was struggling with bills.
He said the man later asked him for six live shingleback lizards, and gave him instructions on how to send them to China.
The court heard Pogmore stopped all contact with anyone in the “reptile community” since his arrest last year.
The prosecution submitted Pogmore had received convictions for animal-related offences in Bourke and Kalgoorlie last year.
However, Judge Buscombe said Pogmore’s criminal history did not “disentitle him to some leniency”.
“He’s never been in prison before,” he said.
“There is some genuine remorse, and I’ve found reasonable to good prospects of rehabilitation.”
He sentenced Pogmore to three years in jail commencing on December 10 to account for one day spent in custody upon his arrest.
He will be first eligible for release in June, 2022, with a surety of $100.
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