James P. Zaworski, 31, of Marion, Illinois, pleaded guilty to one felony count of conspiracy to smuggle wildlife into the United States and to trade in protected species in interstate commerce. Zaworski, a reptile dealer known for his captive breeding success with small lizards called geckos, entered his guilty plea before Judge J. Phil Gilbert in U.S. District Court in Benton, Illinois, and now faces 5 years incarceration and/or a $250,000 fine.
The investigation into Zaworskis activities began in 1994 at Kennedy Airport in New York city, where U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service wildlife inspectors discovered a mail parcel from Spain addressed to Zaworski. Hidden within the parcel, were 13 Lilfords wall lizards, a small blue lizard that inhabits the Balearic Islands off the coast of Spain. These lizards are protected by an international treaty, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), of which both the United States and Spain are signatory countries.
Following the package to its destination in southern Illinois, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent Timothy Santel worked with U.S. Postal Inspectors, Illinois Conservation Police officers and other Service law enforcement officers to carry out a Federal search warrant at Zaworskis residence. They found records and documents chronicling 10 years of smuggling reptiles to and from Spain, France and South Africa. Among the reptiles seized at Zaworskis home were the 13 Lilfords wall lizards, European ladder ratsnakes also smuggled from Spain, box turtles illegally collected from a National Wildlife Refuge, venomous massasauga rattlesnakes mailed illegally from Florida, a timber rattlesnake and Great Plains ratsnakes listed as threatened species in Illinois, and two desert tortoises, a species considered threatened under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.
Zaworski actively solicited and traded reptiles through the mail with Juan Gonzalez, a reptile supplier in Barcelona, Spain. Each would ship parcels containing live reptiles in plastic containers, using fictitious names and addresses. Packages were unmarked and declared as books to avoid detection. Search warrants were also served on Gonzalez by authorities in Barcelona, and portions of the investigation are ongoing in Spain and several U.S. states. Additional people may be charged.
Investigators found Zaworski frequently traded venomous snakes, collecting from the wild and subsequently mailing copperheads, timber rattlers, massasaugas, and speckled and diamondback rattlesnakes in violation of U.S. Postal laws. Zaworski was also found to have collected turtles and snakes from national wildlife refuges and national forests. These reptiles were then traded or sold to reptile collectors around the country.
Among the wildlife laws Zaworski violated are the U.S. Endangered Species Act, which prohibits trade in endangered and threatened species; and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) which prohibits or restricts trade in listed species among the 134 signatory countries. In addition, Zaworskis trading activities violated the Lacey Act, a Federal statute which prohibits interstate commercialization of wildlife in violation of State laws. Some of the species traded were protected by Illinois state law, including the Dangerous Animals Act which prohibits the possession of dangerous wildlife, including venomous snakes.
This investigation was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney William E. Coonan, Southern District of Illinois and Jonathon Blackmer, U.S. Department of Justice, Wildlife and Marine Resources Section, Washington, D.C.
In a related smuggling investigation, Robert L. Mitchell, St. Charles, Missouri, pleaded guilty in April 1996 for violations of the Lacey Act. Mitchell was fined $10,000 for unlawfully importing 18 live Hermanns tortoises through the mail. These protected tortoises were sent by Gonzalez of Barcelona, Spain, in the same manner that Zaworski smuggled reptiles.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 93-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 530 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 66 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies. For further information about the programs and activities of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the Great Lakes-Big Rivers Region, please visit our home page at: http://midwest.fws.gov
