U.S. Department of Justice Marcos Daniel
Jiménez |
|
99
N.E. 4th Street Miami, FL 33132 (305) 961-9001 |
PRESS RELEASE |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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October 06, 2004 | Carlos B. Castillo, Special Counsel for Public Affairs, (305) 961-9425 |
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TEXAS
ORCHID GROWER SENTENCED FOR
SMUGGLING PROTECTED PERUVIAN ORCHIDS
Marcos Daniel Jiménez, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida; Thomas Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General, for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division, announced today that defendant, George Norris, a resident of Spring, Texas, was sentenced to seventeen (17) months imprisonment and two (2) years of supervised release at a hearing in Miami, Florida, Federal District Court today in connection with a conspiracy to smuggle into the United States protected orchid specimens, including specimens of the genus Phragmipedium, commonly known as Tropical ladys slipper orchids. All species of orchid are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a treaty to which the United States and Peru, along with over 160 other nations, are parties. The United States implements CITES through the Endangered Species Act. Norris previously pleaded guilty to seven (7) criminal charges related to the smuggling of orchid specimens into the United States for sale and admitted to a forfeiture provision in the Indictment which asserts that the orchids or their substitute value is properly forfeitable as part of the action.
United States District Judge Patricia Seitz, who imposed sentence in the case found that Norris was unable to pay a fine, which under the charges could have been the greater of $250,000 or twice the gain or loss from his relevant conduct, for each of the seven Counts. Norris co-defendant, Manuel Arias Silva of Lima, Peru, previously entered guilty pleas to two counts of the Indictment and received a sentence of twenty-one (21) months imprisonment, three (3) years supervised release and a $5,000 fine.
According to the indictment
and statements in Court, Arias made multiple shipments of orchids to his co-conspirator,
Norris in Spring, Texas, between January of 1999 and October of 2003. Arias
would obtain a CITES permit for the shipments from Peruvian authorities, with
whom he had a long-standing relationship, authorizing the export of certain
numbers of artificially-propagated specimens of particular species of orchids.
Arias would then ship specimens of orchids not included on the CITES permit.
Norris and Arias admitted in their pleas that to conceal the illegal activity
they would falsely label the protected species as a species included on the
permit. Arias would provide Norris a code or key that would provide
a means for deciphering the false labels and identifying the true species of
the orchids. One shipment in February of 2003 included some 1,145 specimens,
of which approximately 490 were of species not authorized for export by the
accompanying CITES permit. Norris and Arias admitted by pleading guilty that
they used invalid permits for the shipments and falsely labeled many of the
plants to cover up the lack of a valid permit. Three of the shipments mentioned
in Court were valued at more than $45,000, based on the actual sales records
seized during the search of Norris business in Texas.
Mr. Jiménez commended the investigative efforts of the United States
Fish and Wildlife Service, the Department of Homeland Security, Customs and
Border Protection Service, and the Department of Agriculture. The case was prosecuted
by Assistant United States Attorney Thomas Watts-Fitzgerald and the Environmental
Crimes and Natural Resources Section of the Department of Justice.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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