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Tortoise smuggler sentenced

Clay Davenport

Clay Davenport

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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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Another article with some additional details

Greensburg man sentenced for selling endangered turtles

A Greensburg man was sentenced in federal court Friday to a year in prison and ordered to pay $25,000 in restitution to the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission for illegally buying and selling endangered species of turtles.

U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Hardiman sentenced John P. Tokosh, 43, for taking part in the sale and purchase of the wildlife that was smuggled and imported into the country in 2002-04.

Mr. Tokosh was smuggling, among other species of turtles, Indian Star and Burmese Star tortoises, which have a retail value of $1,500. He also collected hundreds of Pennsylvania wood turtles from the wild and sold them illegally.

In 1998, Mr. Tokosh was arrested as a part of Operation Herp Scam, a nationwide undercover operation aimed at illegal traffickers in wild and endangered reptiles and amphibians. Authorities found more than 100 amphibians and reptiles inside his home.

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