A Will County man who already faces more than 4 years in prison for slaughtering endangered tigers was found guilty Wednesday of owning an illegal gun silencer.
The verdict against William Kapp could add time to his prison term, set to begin later this month.
Investigators have painted Kapp as the ringleader of a Midwestern exotic animal ring, in which almost two dozen endangered tigers and leopards were shot and killed for their skins in the late 1990s.
All 15 members of the ring were convicted of violating federal endangered species laws. Kapp, 37, received the harshest penalty–a sentence of 4 years and 3 months in prison.
“This is the final piece of the puzzle,” said Assistant U.S. Atty. Debra Bonamici, who prosecuted both the tiger case and the silencer one. “It’s a very good feeling. It was a lot of hard work by a lot of good people.”
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents found the silencer while searching Kapp’s home in 1999 as part of the tiger investigation. In federal court Wednesday, prosecutors said the device was found attached to a .22-caliber shotgun stored in a safe in Kapp’s family room.
Agents testified that Kapp admitted to owning the silencer and said he bought it for $100 at a local gun show.
Jurors deliberated less than two hours before finding the former Will County corrections officer guilty of possessing an unregistered silencer and of possessing a silencer that did not have a serial number.
Kapp and his attorney, James Graham, presented no witnesses in defense during the one-day trial, but said in closing arguments that the mechanism did not work properly and should not be considered a silencer.
Prosecutors countered that Kapp knew exactly what the device was used for, and at one point told a federal agent that it was “intended to muffle the sound but it doesn’t work very well.”
Bonamici said there was no evidence the silencer was used in the shooting of any of the tigers or leopards, which were killed while confined to small pens or horse trailers. Several of the animals were shot in Chicago suburbs.
Sentencing scheduled for June 8.
Under federal sentencing guidelines, Kapp could receive up to 10 more years in prison for the illegal silencer.
A judge will decide during the June hearing whether the sentence should be served while Kapp is already in prison for the tiger conviction or whether it should be tacked onto the end.
