EUGENE, Ore. — A man from Shanghai pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for directing a scheme to smuggle more than 300 endangered turtles to China from the United States with help from a co-conspirator in Eugene.
The Eugene resident has not been indicted yet.
Xiao Dong Qin, 34, of Shanghai, pleaded guilty Tuesday to conspiring to smuggle goods from the United States. He will be sentenced Feb. 27 at the federal courthouse in Eugene.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, since at least May 2017, Qin had directed the Eugene resident to purchase more than 300 live turtles from reptile dealers in Alabama, California, Florida, Kentucky, Michigan, New Jersey, Nevada, North Carolina and South Carolina. All of the turtles purchased and smuggled were protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
According to the indictment, the Eugene resident posted advertisements on a reptile website in May 2017, September 2017 and January 2018 looking to purchase a large quantity of turtles. In January 2018, authorities served a search warrant on the Eugene resident’s email account and banking information, which showed one August transaction for $57,000 to $67,000 worth of turtles, shipped from Florida to Los Angeles.