Case of park ranger sentenced for attempted murder takes stunning turn: ranger faces charges of drug trafficking

Park ranger, Mauricio Steller Fallas was sentenced to 12 years in prison last Friday for his 2009 shooting of an alleged poacher in the Osa Conservation Area. (Courtesy)

September 4^th, 2015 (ICR News) Environmental groups in Costa Rica expressed their outrage this week over a 12-year prison sentence handed down to former park ranger, Mauricio Steller Fallas for attempted murder last Friday, but the case has taken a stunning turn, and Steller could be facing even more time behind bars.

The Osa District Attorney and prosecutors announced on Thursday afternoon that they intend to press drug trafficking charges against Steller.

Prosecutors allege that Steller found eight kilos of cocaine floating at sea around Caño Island in 2012, and rather than turning the drugs in, he instead delivered the cocaine to his father, Rodrigo Steller Jimenez – a decision that would ultimately cost Steller’s father his life.

On August 1^st, 2012, Steller’s father and two other accomplices were apparently attempting to negotiate the sale of the drugs, when all three were murdered.  A Colombian man and a Panamanian man went to trial for the triple murder in April 2014, but were acquitted, though prosecutors filed an appeal in that case and are expecting a new trial.

The former park ranger was sentenced last Friday to 12 years in prison for attempted murder as a result of his shooting an alleged poacher of protected sea turtle eggs in September 2009 within the Osa Conservation Area (Acosa).

Steller testified that the alleged poacher was intoxicated and attacked him with a machete when he asked the man to show him the contents of the bag he was carrying, which the ranger believed contained protected sea turtle eggs.

Steller said that he fired a warning shot into the ground after the man began attacking with the machete, but the man continued in his attack, forcing the ranger to shoot the man.

As a result of the shooting, the alleged poacher, identified by the last name Castro, was paralyzed in 70 percent of his body.  Castro later died in 2013, four years after the shooting.

A number of environmental groups, and even Costa Rica’s minister for environment, condemned the sentence earlier this week.

Supporters even set up a Change.org petition calling on the government to overturn Steller’s conviction, which has collected nearly 3,000 signatures in less than 72 hours.