Student Who Sold Seeds From U.S. Lands Gets Probation

A college student from Huntington Beach was sentenced to three years’ probation, 300 hours of community service and a $5,000 fine for taking seeds from federal land without permission.

U.S. Magistrate Don Svet said Friday that Kyle Wagstaff, 25, “milked the system like a prize Guernsey cow,” noting Wagstaff was reimbursed for his travels, grossed $63,000 from his seed-collecting business in the past year--and received a court-appointed lawyer when he was charged.

Wagstaff, an honors student at Golden West College, and a friend, Joshua Spears, 23, of American Fork, Utah, were charged with felony theft of government property and interstate transportation of stolen property.

A jury acquitted Spears in August and deadlocked on the charges against Wagstaff.

Wagstaff later entered a plea to a misdemeanor: unauthorized collection of renewable resources without a contract or permit.

The charges came after a December 1993 harvesting operation on Bureau of Land Management property along New Mexico Highway 44 south of Bloomfield. Trial testimony said the pair harvested 16,000 pounds of four-wing saltbush seeds to sell to companies that use them in landscaping and reclamation.

The defense argued the BLM had no permit process at the time and that procedures for permits were inconsistent and confusing.

However, prosecutors said Wagstaff held a permit in Wyoming and knew what he was doing.