A 54-year-old man pleaded guilty Friday to federal charges after wildlife inspectors at a Torrance mail facility intercepted packages containing protected eastern box turtles addressed to one of the defendant’s aliases in China. Sai Keung Tin, of Hong Kong, entered his plea in Los Angeles federal court to four counts of exporting merchandise contrary to law, according to the U.S.
Attorney’s Office. According to the indictment, Tin illegally aided in the exportation of 40 eastern box turtles to be sent from the United States to China. Wildlife inspectors at an international mail facility in Torrance intercepted four packages addressed to “Ji Yearlong,” a name believed to be one of Tin’s aliases, and which were to be shipped to Tin’s home in Hong Kong, court documents stated.
Tin falsely labeled the packages containing the protected turtles as containing almonds and chocolate cookies. Three of the packages contained between eight and 12 live eastern box turtles each — all bound in socks, according to court papers. The fourth package contained seven live eastern box turtles and one that had died.
A special agent also searched property records and learned that the name listed as the sender on each of the packages was fake, federal prosecutors said. The eastern box turtle is a subspecies of the common box turtle and is native to forested regions of the eastern United States with some isolated populations in the Midwest. Turtles with colorful markings are especially p.
