Gregory A. White, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced today that a federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging Tania J. Siyam with two counts of violations of the Lacey Act and two counts of Aiding and Abetting the Smuggling of Goods into the United States.
According to the indictment, in November of 2002 and again in December of 2003, Siyam, an operator of several internet-based wildlife and West African art businesses, smuggled raw elephant ivory and ivory tusks into the United States from Cameroon, Africa, in two separate shipments. According to the indictment, the ivory was concealed in terra cotta pottery; the first shipment contained two raw elephant ivory tusks in a shipping package which was falsely labeled and identified as containing wood terra cotta sculptures and the second shipment contained 125 pounds of raw elephant ivory in three parcels which were falsely labeled and identified as containing terra cotta flower pots.
The importation and commercialization of the raw elephant ivory tusks are violations of the import/export provisions of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The United States, Cameroon, and Canada are members of CITES, which regulates worldwide trade in endangered species and prohibits the illegal trade in hides, mounts and parts of endangered species such as the Asian and African elephants. The charges include two counts of felony violations of the Lacey Act, a federal wildlife protection law aimed at violations of the CITES Convention.
Siyam, age 27, is a citizen of Canada and is a resident of Cameroon. Canadian authorities arrested Siyam February 2, 2004, near Toronto on a provisional arrest warrant. She is currently in custody in Canada, awaiting extradition to the United States.
The maximum statutory penalty is five years imprisonment, a fine of $250,000, or both. The actual sentence in this case, upon conviction, will be determined by the Court under the mandatory Federal Sentencing Guidelines which depend upon a number of factors unique to each case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense and the unique characteristics of the violation. In all cases the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Phillip J. Tripi following an investigation by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.
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 95-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System, which encompasses 542 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 69 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resources offices and 81 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, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the governments burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
