U.S. Attorney Kenneth A. Polite announced that SO YI CHAN, age 29, and her aunt, SUI FAN CHIU, age 50, both from California, pled guilty today to a Superseding Bill of Information charging CHAN with smuggling turtles out of the United States and CHIU with misprision of the turtle smuggling.
CHAN and CHIU were part of a group of individuals involved in capturing the threatened species of North American Wood turtles from the wild in Pennsylvania, shipping the turtles by mail though the United States, first to Louisiana and then on to California, and then illegally exporting the turtles to Hong Kong. According to court documents, CHAN and CHIU’s homes served as the drop locations where the turtles were sent in California. CHAN also admitted that she had packaged the turtles and mailed them to Hong Kong, falsely declaring that the boxes contained legos and magazines.
CHAN faces a maximum term of ten years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, and up to 3 years of supervised release following any term of imprisonment. CHIU faces a maximum term of three years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, and up to one year of supervised release following any term of imprisonment U.S. District Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle set sentencing for June 15, 2016.
U.S. Attorney Polite praised the work of the Agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Postal Inspection Service in investigating this matter. Assistant United States Attorney David Haller is in charge of the prosecution.