A Bay Area man tried to export hundreds of turtles from the United States to Taiwan before federal law enforcement arrested and charged him on Friday, foiling his too-slow plans.
Daly City man Donald Do is charged with conspiracy and crimes related to a conservation law named the Lacey Act, Department of Justice officials said.
Federal law requires anyone importing “injurious wildlife” to secure a permit under the Lacey Act — but prosecutors say Do’s alleged turtle-trafficking scheme was built on lies from the start.
According to the indictment, Do’s co-conspirator allegedly duped the US Fish and Wildlife Service into issuing a permit by falsely claiming Do had personally hatched and raised 292 loggerhead musk turtles
Instead, prosecutors say Do allegedly bought poached turtles from Florida and other states while scrambling to score even more rare reptiles.
Authorities say he also tried to snag more than 200 turtles from a Louisiana man already facing criminal charges in his own turtle-trafficking case.
When an export attempt fell apart, Do allegedly tried to cover his tracks by lying to a California-based co-conspirator, claiming he had already sold the turtles to domestic buyers, prosecutors said.
The USFWS investigated Do as part of Operation Southern Hot Herps, which is trying to “detect and deter turtle poachers in the southeastern United States.”
Loggerhead turtles are found around the world and are known for their “powerful jaw muscles that enable them to feed on hard-shelled prey,” according to NOAA. The species is considered endangered in parts of the world, but is otherwise considered a threatened species.
The turtles form more than 100,000 nests in the US per year.
Do has pleaded not guilty to the charges. A judge set a bond hearing for Do on May 21 and a status conference set for July 31.
If convicted, he faces up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of the conspiracy and Lacey Act charges.