December 2, 2013 — The following was released by the Southern District of Florida U.S. Attorney's Office:
Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Otha Easley, Acting Special Agent in Charge, NOAA Fisheries Office of Law Enforcement, and Edward Grace, Deputy Assistant Director, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement, announced that Richard Perrin, 80, formerly of Romulus, Michigan, pled guilty yesterday in federal District Court in Key West for conspiring with others to transport, sell, receive, acquire, and purchase fish and wildlife, Sea Fans (Gorgonia flabellum and Gorgonia ventalina), ornamental tropical fish, sharks, and alligators (Alligator mississippiensis), with a fair market value in excess of $350.00, knowing the wildlife was taken, possessed, transported, sold, and intended to be sold in violation of the laws and regulations of the State of Florida, in violation of Title 16, United States Code, Sections 3372(a)(2)(A), 3372(a)(4), and 3373(d)(1) and (2), all in violation of Title 18,United States Code, Section 371.
United States District Court Judge Jose E. Martinez, who accepted Perrin’s plea, set sentencing in the matter for March 25, 2014 at 2:00 p.m. in Key West. Perrin faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a criminal fine of up to $250,000. He also faces forfeiture of the vehicle used in the commission of the Lacey Act Violations. Perrin’s co-defendant, Joseph Franko, 35, also of Romulus, entered a guilty plea to the same charge on November 25, 2013 and faces the same possible sentence and fine.
Read the full press release at the U.S. Department of Justice