A man who dubbed himself "Mike the Smuggler" was sentenced today to the six months he has already served in jail and ordered to pay $100 in court costs by U.S. District Court Judge John T. Elfvin in Buffalo, N.Y. Michael W. Wilson, age 43, pleaded guilty in March to smuggling horns from endangered black rhinoceroses and a leopard skin from Mozambique. He was deported from South Africa in October and came to Buffalo to answer the charges against him.
In 2001, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service law enforcement agents saw an Internet advertisement for an aye-aye skull for $12,000, according to Thomas J. Healy, special agent in charge for the Service's Northeast Region. The aye-aye is a highly endangered Madagascar primate. Wilson's e-mail response to an inquiry offered other items for sale and detailed how he illegally transported a leopard skin into the United States. He signed his message "Mike the Smuggler."
The agents arranged to purchase the leopard skin, which arrived wrapped as a Christmas present labeled for "Aunt Betty." Wilson identified the skin in a U.S. Customs inventory as a rug. Agents then arranged to purchase two black rhino horns from Wilson. The black rhino is one of the most endangered remaining rhino species. Wilson described in an e-mail how he would ship them to avoid discovery by Customs agents. He disguised the horns as African artwork with plaster, bones and paint.
In 2003, Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder Jr. in Buffalo issued a felony arrest warrant. Service law enforcement agents and the U.S. Attorney's office worked with the State Department to have Wilson's passport revoked. In October 2004 Wilson was detained in South Africa and deported to the United States to face the charges. Although he was released on bail, Wilson subsequently turned himself in and was held in custody through today's proceedings. Felony smuggling carries a maximum sentence of five years incarceration and a $250,000 fine.
This case was investigated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with assistance from U.S. Customs (now Immigration and Customs Enforcement), the U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's offices in Buffalo and Brooklyn, the State Department, the South African Police Service, and the German Customs Investigative 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 545 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 and Native American tribal governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Assistance program, which distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies.
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