A California couple has admitted helping operate an international wildlife-trafficking network that moved rhino horns, lion teeth and other animal parts between the United States and Vietnam.
Linh Luu and Kevin Le of Anaheim pleaded guilty Friday in federal court in Oregon to violating the Lacey Act, which prohibits the illegal import and export of wildlife.
The couple each received three years of probation and was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine for their role in the scheme, according to the Justice Department.
“According to court documents and statements made in court, Luu and Le admitted that from September 2019 through May 2021, they processed $51,100 in payments to aid an individual in Vietnam to illegally move wildlife items to and from Oregon,” the DOJ said.
The operation sent American black bear gallbladders and cougar bones to Vietnam, while lion teeth, rhino horns and a tiger pelt were brought into Oregon.
In December 2020, Luu and Le met with an undercover federal agent and accepted $12,000 for a rhino horn. Prosecutors said the pair also discussed methods for evading US banking regulations.
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The couple later received roughly $5,000 each for the horn parts, which were “shipped to Oregon disguised as a household decoration.”
The animal parts involved in the case are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES. The international agreement regulates wildlife commerce and aims to protect threatened species.
Passed in 1900, the Lacey Act separately makes the illegal import and export of wildlife a federal offense.
The case follows guilty pleas entered in early October by three men accused of illegally hunting wild bobcats and shipping their pelts to Canada.
According to the DOJ, the men regularly used bait to lure and kill the animals before “transporting the poached bobcat pelts to New York to be falsely tagged and exported to Canada.”
In August, authorities arrested a woman at the US-Mexico border after allegedly discovering 69 live animals in her vehicle, including venomous vipers, caimans and a baby crocodile. The animals were reportedly packed into pillowcases sealed with tape.
