Irish National Sentenced to Prison for Trafficking in Rhinoceros Horns

An Irish national was sentenced in federal court in Waco, Texas, today to 12 months in prison for conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act in relation to illegal rhinoceros horn trafficking, announced Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark of the Environment and Natural Resources Division of the Department of Justice.

John Slattery, who was arrested on Aug. 1, 2019, in Ireland, was extradited to the United States for his role in trafficking horns from black rhinoceros.  Slattery pleaded guilty to conspiring to traffic in horns from black rhinoceros on July 7, 2020.

On May 13, 2014, a federal grand jury sitting in Waco, Texas, returned an indictment that has since been unsealed, charging Slattery and a co-defendant, Patrick Sheridan, with conspiring to traffic in horns from black rhinoceros.  In addition to conspiracy, the indictment charges substantive violations of the Lacey Act for wildlife trafficking and making a false wildlife document. 

According to documents filed with the court, in September 2010, Slattery traveled with his brother, Michael Slattery Jr. and Patrick Sheridan to a taxidermy shop in Austin, Texas, to purchase rhinoceros horns. Upon their first visit to the shop, John Slattery and his co-conspirators were informed that the horns could only be sold to a resident of Texas.  The following day, Slattery enlisted the help of an individual (now deceased), a Texas resident who acted as a straw buyer, to enable the three co-conspirators to purchase the rhinoceros horns.

As part of the plea, Slattery admitted that through the straw buyer, he and his co-conspirators paid the taxidermist $18,000 for the horns.  They were given an “Endangered Species Bill of Sale,” which the group later modified and falsified.  Slattery further admitted that after they purchased the horns in Texas, Slattery traveled to New York, where he sold the horns to an individual for $50,000.  Slattery gave the purchaser the falsified “Endangered Species Bill of Sale,” which Slattery and his co-conspirators had modified to make it look as if the sale in Texas was legal, when in fact, it was not.  Slattery further admitted that he later offered the same individual 10 rhinoceros horns for sale.  That sale was not completed.

In September 2013, Slattery Jr. was arrested in New York and charged in the Eastern District of New York with conspiring with Slattery and Sheridan to traffic rhinoceros horns.  In January 2014, Slattery Jr. pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 14 months in prison for his role in the conspiracy.  In September 2015, Sheridan was extradited to the United States from the United Kingdom.  Sheridan was returned to the Western District of Texas where he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 months in prison.  In addition to the conspiracy to traffic in rhinoceros horns, Slattery and Sheridan were charged with violating the Lacey Act’s trafficking provision and making a fictitious and fraudulent bill of sale in connection with the rhinoceros horns in an attempt to make their illegal purchase of the horns appear legal.

The transport of Slattery to the Western District of Texas to face these charges concluded the extradition process from Ireland, a process governed by an extradition treaty between the United States and Ireland.  Slattery was sentenced in federal court in Waco, by U.S. District Judge Alan Albright.

The case was investigated by agents from U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement.  The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Gary N. Donner of the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Gloff for the Western District of Texas.  The Criminal Division’s Office of International Affairs provided significant support in securing and coordinating Slattery’s arrest and extradition. Assistance for Slattery’s extradition was provided by the Government of Ireland.

Hot Springs Man Sentenced for a Violation of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act

United States Attorney Ron Parsons announced that a Hot Springs, South Dakota, man convicted of a violation of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act was sentenced on July 10, 2020, by U.S. Magistrate Judge Daneta L. Wollmann.

Larry Belitz, age 77, was sentenced to 1 year of probation, and was ordered to pay $19,900 in restitution to the U.S. Forest Service, a fine of $10,000, and a $25 special assessment to the Federal Crime Victims Fund.

The conviction stems from Belitz, who without being permitted to do so, knowingly possessed and sold parts of bald and golden eagles on Native American items he sold between February 2013 and February 2015.  

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Kelderman prosecuted the case.

Texas Man Pleads Guilty to Trafficking Wildlife

A Texas man pleaded guilty today in federal court in the Western District of Texas on charges of conspiring to traffic thousands of live reptiles, amphibians, and birds, valued in excess of $3.5 million.

Alejandro Carrillo of El Paso, Texas, pleaded guilty before Senior U.S. District Judge David Briones for the Western District of Texas.  Sentencing has been scheduled for Sept. 16.  

“Carrillo’s arrest and his removal from the trafficking network demonstrates that the Justice Department will continue to vigorously enforce laws designed to protect wildlife,” said Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division.  “This is a continuing investigation and reflects the seriousness with which we regard these activities and our commitment to hold accountable those who break the law.”

“This investigation has exposed a highly coordinated wildlife trafficking ring responsible for the smuggling of wild caught reptiles destined to collectors and the commercial trade across the U.S. and globe,” said Edward Grace, Assistant Director for Law Enforcement for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS).  “The number of animals suspected of being smuggled is in the tens of thousands.  Reptiles, amphibians and other protected wildlife already face enough environmental stressors worldwide. This case goes a long way to slow the impacts of wildlife trafficking on species that are under protection of the Endangered Species Act and CITES.”

According to documents filed with the court, beginning in 2016, the FWS undertook Operation Bale Out, an investigation of a network of individuals involved in the trafficking of wildlife between the United States and Mexico. “Bale” means a group of turtles, and much of the wildlife trafficked by this network involved rare turtles.

According to information in the public record, Carrillo functioned as a middle-man for the network, transporting live animals – many of which were protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) – from Mexico into the United States. Carrillo pleaded guilty to two counts of an indictment charging him with conspiring to traffic wildlife into the United States, and smuggling wildlife into the United States. As part of the plea, Carrillo admitted to being paid more than $92,000 to transport thousands of animals from Mexico into the United States, valued at more than $3,500,000. After transporting the animals into the United States, Carrillo then arranged for them to be delivered to domestic customers, who had purchased the animals from the Mexico-based suppliers.

This case is part of an ongoing effort by the Department of the Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement, in coordination with the Department of Justice, to prosecute those involved in the illegal taking and trafficking in protected species. This prosecution is being handled by the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Environmental Crimes Section with assistance from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas. The government is represented by Environmental Crimes Trial Attorneys Mary Dee Carraway and Gary N. Donner.