Federal Charges Issued in Miller Trophy Room Conspiracy Case

A former employee of Miller Trophy Room is facing federal charges for conspiracy in relation to that company's trophy preservation treatment services. Recently, I received a number of calls from subscribers asking about Miller Trophy Room (www.booktrail.com/mtr/default.asp) and their proprietary trophy preservation formula, which was advertised and widely used from about 2003 (or earlier) to 2010. I'd heard back in 2010 that Miller Trophy Room, based in North Carolina was under investigation, although the owner of the company, Steve Miller had died, and due to estate issues the company was closed. At that time, Miller's daughter had already started her own company called Miller Taxidermy Preservation, LLC (www.wtpreservation.com/About.html). Now, I have just received word that a former technician and manager of Miller Trophy Room, Timothy Terrell Smither, has been charged and is being prosecuted in the Eastern District of North Carolina on federal charges of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud, and to violate the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act, specifically for relabeling, misuse and misapplication of a registered pesticide.

The pesticide used was, allegedly, Termidor SC (a trade name for Fipronil), which is a registered pesticide, not licensed for use inside buildings, except in enclosed wall voids, and not intended for the treatment of trophy animal mounts. According to the Criminal Information (www.huntingreport.com/worldupdate.cfm?articleid=592) filed in the case, Miller Trophy Room, with the knowledge of Steve Miller and other unnamed co-conspirators, apparently relabeled the pesticide, created false safety documentation for it, and applied it in diluted form as a trophy preservative. We should note that Miller Taxidermy Preservation, LLC is not mentioned in the file submitted by the US Attorney.

These are serious charges, and the fallout from this indictment is likely to be profound, especially since thousands of trophies were treated with Miller's Trophy Room's "proprietary" formula. If your trophies are among them, we urge you to take a look at and consider filling out the questionnaire being distributed by the US Attorney's Office in the Eastern District of North Carolina. You'll find the questionnaire with the Criminal Information file on our website, or........(continued)