A Greensburg tortoise-smuggler was snapped with one year and a day in prison Friday by a federal judge.
John Pen Tokosh, 44, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Thomas Hardiman for trafficking in illegally transported wildlife. Tokosh has a prior state conviction on a similar charge.
The federal case stemmed from a 2002 deal Tokosh made to smuggle tortoises into the U.S. from Singapore, concealing the animals in packages labeled as Star Wars figures. He later sold two Indian star tortoises to an undercover agent via the Internet.
Tokosh pleaded guilty in February. Charges related to two other shipments of Indian and Burmese star tortoises were dropped as part of the plea agreement.
Indian and Burmese star tortoises are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
An Indian star tortoise, which gets its name from the radiating star pattern on its shell, sells for between $800 and $1,000. Tokosh traded five spotted turtles to a Florida man in exchange for two Indian star tortoises. He later sold both to the undercover wildlife agent for $950.
Turtles mostly live in water while tortoises are land-dwellers.
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