Packages in the California mail facility are marked with almonds and chocolate chip cookies. But inside are dozens of tortoises wrapped in socks to prevent them from moving and remind authorities.
They are about 2,100 turtles federal authorities say Chinese citizen Sai Keung Tin has been trafficked for more than five years. Ministry of Justice Called the Illegal Asian Pet Trade. Tin pleaded guilty in December on four counts of exporting goods violating federal law.
On Friday morning in downtown Los Angeles, U.S. District Judge Josephine Staton sentenced nearly three years in prison for smuggling protected sea turtles in the country.
The Eastern Box Turtle, known for its vivid yellow-orange markings on its shells, was bound from the East Coast to Hong Kong and was intercepted in Torrance, prompting the case to be prosecuted in California. The Justice Department lawyer said indigenous species in North America were coveted by the rise of the middle class and were worth at least $2,000 per person on the black market.
These turtles are native to forested areas in the eastern United States, with some isolated populations in the Midwest. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, they usually reach a length of 6 inches and can live longer than 100 years.
“Some people reward wine, premium cars, artwork, but now, with the rise of [the] Ryan Connors, a senior trial attorney for the Department of Justice’s Environmental Crime Division, said at the sentencing hearing. “It is a North American sea turtle that is a symbol of status.”
According to the Department of Justice, the tortoise is protected by the International Trade Convention on Endangered Wild Animals and Flora and Fauna, with both China and the United States involved.
According to his attorney, William Harris, Tin has served more than one year in prison and he demands a year and one day in prison. Harris said Tin disagreed with the sentence and directed him to file a notice of appeal.
“We’re going to take it from there,” Harris said.
According to a memorandum of sentencing memorandum, Tin assisted and taught turtled smugglers in the United States between February 2018 and 2023. Authorities estimate the value of smuggled reptiles is $4.2 million.
At the hearing, Tin (via an interpreter) denied as many sea turtles as the government claims.
“I don’t know the seriousness of the crime, and while I never try to justify my violation of the law, I don’t think helping to bring the turtle into my hometown of Hong Kong is a bad thing,” Tin wrote in a letter to the judge before his sentence. “I can assure the court now that I know the seriousness of the crime. I will never do it again.”
The case against TIN originated in June 2023, when U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service inspectors intercepted four packs of them, including 40 eastern box turtles, at an international mail facility in Torrance. The packages containing a dead turtle in these packages were introduced to “ji Yeargong”, a name considered one of the alias for Tin. Prosecutors said they were believed to have been shipped to tin homes in Hong Kong.
Tin’s attorney Harris said in a sentencing memorandum that his client agreed to receive boxed turtles that would be shipped illegally from New York and New Jersey to his home in Hong Kong.
“These should be the entire family pets,” Harris told the judge Friday.[Tin] It was done through turtle trafficking, which was a serious mistake for him. ”
Agents arrested Tin in February 2024 after arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. The jury sued him in March 2024 when he was linked to four tickets a year ago.
In the U.S., authorities say tin plans to pay for turtles in cash, ship them across the country, and then export them illegally to Hong Kong. Prosecutors said he had detailed information on how to soak sea turtles to reduce odor and tie them in their socks with tape.
Authorities say tin is linked to Kang Juntao, an international tortoise smuggler from Hangzhou, China. Juntao was extradited from Malaysia in 2019 and later sentenced to jail after admitting to money laundering. Prosecutors said at least 1,500 sea turtles in Kang were shipped from the United States to Hong Kong, including tin.
“We’re seeing thousands of people tear up from the wild and sent to illegal pet trade,” Connors said. “That’s how native American species start to collapse.”
