A Utah man and his company Natur Inc. pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Salt Lake City to violating the Lacey and Endangered Species Acts.
On Nov. 18, 2020, a grand jury issued an indictment charging Jean-Michel Arrigona, 58, of Midvale, with unlawfully importing wildlife into the United States and reselling it from the Natur store in Midvale, which he owns. In a plea agreement with the government, Arrigona admitted that he imported approximately 1,500 wildlife items from 2015 to 2020. He only declared three of the packages, as required, to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or customs authorities. Arrigona resold the wildlife online and at Natur. The wildlife, primarily from Indonesia, consisted of taxidermy mounts and bones of bats, flying foxes, frogs, starfish, insects, rodents, and lizards. Some of the wildlife, such as the flying fox (Pteropus sp.) and monitor lizard (Varanus sp.) are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which regulates trade in endangered or threatened species through permit requirements. The United States, Indonesia, and 181 other countries are signatories to the CITES treaty.
Arrigona pleaded guilty to a felony Lacey Act trafficking charge, and Natur pleaded to one misdemeanor violation of the Endangered Species Act. U.S. District Judge Robert J. Shelby will determine the defendants’ sentence at an Aug. 4 hearing. Arrigona and Natur have agreed to pay at least $23,101 and $5,000 in fines, respectively. The maximum sentence for Arrigona under the Lacey Act is five years’ imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. The Endangered Species Act carries a maximum corporate sentence of five years’ probation and a $25,000 fine.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement in Redmond, Washington, conducted the investigation as part of Operation Global Reach. The operation focused on the trafficking of wildlife from Indonesia to the United States.
Trial Attorney Ryan Connors of the Justice Department’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Melina Shiraldi of the U.S. Attorney Office for the District of Utah prosecuted the case.
