Dead hawks at Orangeburg plantation prompt federal charges

After receiving a tip on a wildlife hotline, federal agents discovered more than 30 dead birds-of-prey last year on a sprawling Orangeburg County plantation.

This week, four men found themselves facing charges in federal court, each accused of violating a federal law that protects hawks, owls and other raptors. Prosecutors say the men either trapped and killed hawks, or made an attempt to do so.

Charles H. Williams, 65, faces seven charges of killing red-tailed or Cooper’s hawks during 2013 and 2014, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Williams, who was not available for comment, is the law partner of state Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg. Williams also is a member of the University of South Carolina Board of Trustees and the son of the late Sen. Marshall Williams.

John Dantzler, 66, Jimmie Aiken, 56, and Alejandro Renteria Noyola, 56, face one count each for their alleged involvement. If convicted, they face six months in prison, a $15,000 fine or both, U.S. attorney Bill Nettles said in a news release.

Prosecutors did not say why the hawks had been killed at the nearly 1,800-acre Willcreek Plantation, but the case bears similarities to another federal investigation last year.

In that case, three Jasper County hunting preserve workers were fined and put on probation for their involvement in killing federally protected hawks and owls. The federal case centered on the targeted killing of raptors to improve hunting habitat for quail on the 8,000-acre Mackay Plantation preserve.

Hawks in recent years have made a comeback after generations of being shot by farmers because the raptors eat chickens. But hawks also prey on quail, a dwindling species long prized by hunters.

In 2014, the U.S. Attorney’s office said killing hawks and owls to improve quail hunting habitat is a growing problem in the Southeast.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Klumb said that while the Jasper and Orangeburg cases have similarities, the charges this week are not part of the same investigation. But he declined further comment. It is illegal under the federal migratory bird treaty act to kill a raptor without a permit.

Federal officials said the Orangeburg County investigation began with a tip to a South Carolina wild game hotline, operated by the state Department of Natural Resources, in November 2013.

That tip led to a search in 2014 of Willcreek, where federal agents seized more than 30 raptor carcasses, according to the news release

An attempt to reach Gedney Howe, an attorney representing Williams, was unsuccessful. Attempts to reach Dantzler, Aiken and Noyola also were unsuccessful Thursday.

This story was originally published December 16, 2015 at 5:21 PM with the headline "Dead hawks at Orangeburg plantation prompt federal charges."