Federal Court Fines Montana Guide $20,000 in Bighorn Sheep Trafficking Case

A federal court in Billings fined Montana resident John Lewton $20,000 on Oct. 20, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks said in a news release dated Nov. 2, 2026.

Lewton pleaded guilty to violating the federal Lacey Act involving the trafficking of wildlife. He was sentenced to one year of probation. The court barred him for one year from commercial hunting, fishing, trapping or outfitting. He also may not accompany others in the field who are engaged in those activities.

The case goes back to October 2019, when Lewton guided a client on a bighorn sheep hunt on public land in Montana. The client harvested a trophy-sized wild bighorn. Lewton then collected the sheep’s testicles and sold them to an alternative livestock ranch in Vaughn. FWP says collecting and selling reproductive material from a wild bighorn broke Montana law on unlawful wildlife activities and on offenses involving alternative livestock ranches.

Montana restricts the import and export of prohibited species and the unlawful sale of wildlife and wildlife parts, the agency said. The rules help prevent disease from entering and spreading among native wildlife. Bighorn sheep are particularly vulnerable to disease-related die-offs, and introducing prohibited species or their genetic material can pose significant risks to the state’s wild sheep.

FWP warden investigator Dirk Paulsen said the people involved were “driven by ego and greed.” Warden investigator Bryan Golie, who has worked the case since 2020, said the sheep’s genetics were sold to “out-of-state high-fenced shooter farms for nothing more than a profit and a trophy on the wall.”