A double-crossing Manhattan antiques dealer pleaded guilty today to illegally buying the stuffed heads of two rhinoceroses after signing up to help the feds crack down on black-market sales of rhino horns.
David Hausman, 67, was busted last year after a sting operation in which he paid $8,500 for the head of an endangered black rhino.
Following the November 2011 transaction, which took place at a truck stop in Princeton, Ill., agents with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service agents spotted Hausman sawing off the horns in a motel parking lot.
A later search of his apartment turned up a treasure trove of taxidermist stuffed rhino heads and horns, including the two he removed in the parking lot.
Under terms of a plea deal with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office, Hausman faces up to two years in the slammer for obstruction of justice and creating a false record in violation of the Lacey Act, a wildlife-protection statute.
He also agreed to forfeit all the times seized from his apartment except for three antique, rhino-horn libation cups — which are legal because of their age — that are worth about $500,000 each.
In court, Hausman said he had “rationalized” that his illegal purchases “would not harm wild rhino populations.”
“I failed society, my family and friends, and the conservation and animal-rights community,” he said. ”I very much regret and apologize for my actions.”
Sentencing was set for Dec. 5.
kevin.sheehan@nypost.com