MILWAUKEE: Second man sentenced in reptile smuggling case
 

MILWAUKEE — A second man faces prison time on charges of smuggling exotic turtles, tortoises and other animals for sale in the United States and Europe.

Reid Turowski, owner of Captive Bred Specialties in Waukesha, was sentenced Friday to 10 months in prison. He also must pay a $500 fine and serve two years on probation after his prison term.

"I feel like a failure," Turowski told U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman at his sentencing. "I worked so hard on this business, day and night, and it comes down to where I just threw it all away."

Turowski, 29, pleaded guilty in December to one count of conspiracy to smuggle animals, a felony.

He met his supplier, Leong Tian Kum, 34, of Thailand over the Internet, according to prosecutors.

Kum sent the animals to Wisconsin via Federal Express. The boxes were labeled as wooden handicrafts, toys, clothing or stuffed animals. Many of the rare reptiles died in transit.

The animals included Indian Star tortoises, Hermann's tortoises and pancake tortoises, which are subject to strict government guidelines for importing.

For example, Indian Star tortoises, which can sell for $800 each, may not legally be removed from their native India.

Turowski also imported snake-necked turtles, fly river turtles, Borneo black leaf turtles and Chinese water dragons, of the Southeast Asian equivalent of green iguanas, which can be brought into the country legally.

However, he did not declare the animals to the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection or subject them to inspection by the federal Fish and Wildlife Service, both of which are required by law, according to court records.

Turowski received a far lesser sentence than Kum's sentence last month of 41 months in prison.

Federal investigators said that when they went through his e-mail for information about animal trafficking, they found messages detailing plans to smuggle prostitutes from Thailand into Singapore.

Kum was arrested in 2003 when he went to Florida looking for more customers. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to smuggle animals and money laundering in November.

Federal officials seized many of the surviving animals and have relocated them to a zoo in Minnesota, according to court documents.

http://www.twincities.com/mld/pionee...8456758.htm?1c

What gets to me is Corey Sawyer got off the hook by turning everyone else over. Doesn't anyone else remember when Corey stated all his animals were legal despite everyone calling him out on it?

There's also currently an ad running in the classifieds here from somebody in Malaysia for "captive born" Indian stars from small to full adult, and this crap is still going on.
If those stars are captive born and legal then that girl is going to get that albino ball from London for $180.

I honestly hope that everyone who participates in the smuggling of these tortoises are caught and prosecuted. This guy here is all regretful since he got caught, btu he entered into it willingly. I bet his remorse level was much less while he was getting away with it.
In my opinion his sentence is a joke. A $500 fine?

I think it depends on his past. 10 months in jail can open the eyes of someone who hasn't been in the system before.

For a first offense, I wouldn't argue the prison term. A second offense however should result in a mandatory 5-10 years.
A prohibition against his being able to sell any animals for a period of 10 years would be acceptable as well.
It's the fine part I feel is a joke. How much do you suppose he made off this deal? How many animals died for his profit made from the ones that did manage to survive at least long enough for him to sell them? How much more did the population of stars suffer because of him?

One of the adult stars would have brought twice that amount, because of course they would be sold as captive bred. $500 is laughable.
The fine should have been a minimum of the retail amount of every tortoise they know he brought in, or say 25 grand, whichever is higher.
Scum like this are only in it for the money, so hitting them there is where it hurts.

He's sooo sorry, when talking to the judge, now that he's thrown his business away. He apparently didn't feel that way while the tortoises were coming in.