Outfitted For Warfare, Men Illegally Kill Wild Burros In Mojave Desert
INLAND EMPIRE, CA — Two men who shot and killed wild burros in the Inland Empire pleaded guilty Monday to federal criminal charges, and they now face more than a decade in prison.
Christopher James Arnet, 32, of Loveland, Colorado, and Cameron John Feikema, 36, of Yorba Linda, California, each pleaded guilty to one felony count of possession of an unregistered firearm, namely a short-barreled rifle, and one misdemeanor count of maliciously causing the death of a burro on public lands.
According to their plea agreements, on November 5, 2021, the two men drove in Arnet’s truck to public land north of the town of Yermo, in San Bernardino County. The area is within the Mojave Desert.
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Wearing tactical gear — including ballistic helmets equipped with night vision goggles — the men were each armed with an AR-style firearm. Around 1 a.m. the next day, they fired at least 13 rounds, striking and killing three wild burros, according to prosecutors.
One burro was shot near its spine and hind legs, which paralyzed the animal and caused a painful death, prosecutors said.
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Wild burros are federally protected.
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Law enforcement later seized the firearms at the men’s respective residences. It’s not clear what led investigators to Arnet and Feikema.
United States District Judge Jesus G. Bernal scheduled July 8 sentencing hearings for the defendants, who will face a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison for the firearm count and up to one year in federal prison for the burro death count.
As part of the plea agreements, the defendants agreed to forfeit or abandon the illegally possessed rifles, over 4,000 rounds of ammunition, night vision goggles, and other tactical gear.
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