Environmental Crimes Bulletin August 2023 Week 4

In this issue:

• United States v. Zeaborn Shipmanagement (Singapore) PTE. LTD., et al., No. 3:23-CR-01661 (S.D. Calif.), ECS Senior Trial Attorney Stephen DaPonte and AUSA Melanie Pierson
• United States v. GDP Tuning, et al., No. 4:23-CR-00168 (D. Idaho), ECS Senior Trial Attorney Cassie Barnum and AUSA Joshua Hurtwitt
• United States v. Polina L. Perelman, No. 1:23-CR-00055 (E.D. Va.), AUSAs Gordon Kromberg and Cristina Stam
• United States v. Albert Correia, et al., Nos. 3:22-CR-00003, 00005, 00029-31, 00036-00040 (D. Alaska), AUSAs Steven Skrocki and Charise Arce
• United States v. Gerardo Moreno-Salas, No. 3:23-CR-01163 (S.D. Calif.), ECS Senior Trial Attorney Stephen DaPonte and AUSA Melanie Pierson
• United States v. Vyacheslav S. Migitskiy, No. 23-MJ-00615 (W.D.N.Y.), AUSA Aaron Mango
• United States v. Alain Armando Hernandez, et al., No. 22-CR-20535 (S.D. Fla.), AUSA Tom Watts-FitzGerald

United States v. Zeaborn Shipmanagement (Singapore) PTE. LTD., et al., No. 3:23-CR-01661 (S.D. Calif.), ECS Senior Trial Attorney Stephen DaPonte and AUSA Melanie Pierson

On August 21, 2023, Zeaborn Shipmanagement (Singapore) PTE. LTD. (Zeaborn), Captain Alexander Parreno, and Chief Engineer Constancio Estuye pleaded guilty to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (33 U.S.C. § 1908(a)).

The defendants illegally burned garbage in barrels onboard the M/V Star Maia and dumped the contents directly into the ocean. They illegally discharged oily bilge water from the ship’s engine room overboard without using approved pollution prevention equipment. In October 2022, the crew failed to accurately record these disposals in the vessel’s garbage and oil record books as required by U.S. and international law.

The U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service conducted the investigation.

United States v. GDP Tuning, et al., No. 4:23-CR-00168 (D. Idaho), ECS Senior Trial Attorney Cassie Barnum and AUSA Joshua Hurtwitt

On August 23, 2023, Barry Pierce and his two companies, GDP Tuning and Custom Auto of Rexburg, d/b/a Gorilla Performance, pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Air Act (18 U.S.C. § 371; 42 U.S.C. § 7413). The companies agreed to pay a total of $1 million in criminal fines and implement compliance programs. Sentencing is scheduled for November 8, 2023.

Between 2016 and 2020, the defendants tampered with a required monitoring device by removing emissions control devices (often referred to as “deleting”) from more than 200 diesel trucks and reprogrammed (“tuned”) the onboard diagnostic systems to enable them to function without the emissions equipment. In addition to GDP Tuning’s national wholesale operation, Gorilla Performance and Pierce operated a retail shop and auto repair facility in Rexburg, Idaho, where customers’ trucks were deleted and tuned.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.

United States v. Polina L. Perelman, No. 1:23-CR-00055 (E.D. Va.), AUSAs Gordon Kromberg and Cristina Stam

On August 24, 2023, a court sentenced Russian scientist Polina L. Perelman to pay a $1,000 fine and complete a one-year term of probation. Perelman pleaded guilty to wildlife smuggling (18 U.S.C. § 545).

On August 19, 2022, Perelman arrived at Dulles Airport from Russia. On her Customs Declaration, she denied having any animals, animal products, or cell cultures to declare. Upon further examination of her luggage, customs officials found 19 small vials and tubes packed in dry ice, some of which contained cells from endangered species. Perelman admitted that she failed to declare the wildlife specimens because she feared the inspectors would assume the vials contained a disease agent, prompting additional questions and causing her a significant delay.

Homeland Security Investigations and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation.

United States v. Albert Correia, et al., Nos. 3:22-CR-00003, 00005, 00029-31, 00036-00040 (D. Alaska), AUSAs Steven Skrocki and Charise Arce

On August 25, 2023, a court sentenced Albert Correia for conspiring to smuggle protected marine corals from the Philippines into the United States, in violation of the Lacey Act (18 U.S.C. § 371; 16 U.S.C. § 3373(d)(2)). Correia will complete a two-year term of probation and make a community service payment of $5,000 to the Marine Environment and Resources Foundation for coral reef restoration. The court further banned him from engaging in marine coral sales.

In April 2022, prosecutors charged Jerome Anthony Stringfield, Allen William Ockey, Veleriy Gorbounov, and Correia with conspiracy, smuggling and felony Lacey Act violations for smuggling corals from the Philippines. In addition, prosecutors charged Derek M. Kelley, James Knight, Nathan C. Meisner, and Ricky A. Sprires with misdemeanor Lacey Act violations.

Between July 2017 and August 2018, the defendants paid a Philippine national to dive for and collect protected marine corals, which they then sold online to coral collectors and hobbyists. Many of these corals are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). Additionally, Philippine law prohibits any person to gather, possess, commercially transport, sell or commercially export corals regardless of CITES status.

The Republic of the Philippines is one of six countries straddling the Coral Triangle, a 5.4 million-square-kilometer stretch of ocean that contains 75 percent of the world’s coral species, one-third of the Earth’s coral reefs and more than 3,000 species of fish. Poaching for corals and other factors have left only a fraction of the reefs in the Philippines in good condition.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation.

United States v. Gerardo Moreno-Salas, No. 3:23-CR-01163 (S.D. Calif.), ECS Senior Trial Attorney Stephen DaPonte and AUSA Melanie Pierson

On August 29, 2023, a court sentenced Gerardo Moreno-Salas to time served (100 days), followed by one year of supervised release. Moreno-Salas also will pay $2,400 in restitution.

On May 19, 2023, Moreno-Salas attempted to enter the United States from Mexico at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry (POE) with undeclared Mexican pesticides (41 1-liter bottles of Taktic). Taktic contains the active ingredient amitraz, which is prohibited in the United States at the concentration level found in these bottles. The defendant pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor conspiracy violation (18 U.S.C. § 371).

Those involved in clandestine marijuana grows use illegal pesticides to cultivate unregulated marijuana on both public and private land in the United States.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division and Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation.

United States v. Vyacheslav S. Migitskiy, No. 23-MJ-00615 (W.D.N.Y.), AUSA Aaron Mango

On August 30, 2023, prosecutors filed a complaint charging Vyacheslav S. Migitskiy with destruction of a vessel, making a false statement, and sinking of a vessel in a navigable channel (33 U.S.C. §§ 409 and 411; 18 U.S.C. §§ 1001, 2274).

On August 26, 2022, the U.S. Coast Guard received a report from a local mariner of a partially submerged vessel, a 1987 25’ Bayliner, approximately a half mile offshore east of Little Pond in Rochester, New York. The Coast Guard responded and initiated an active search and rescue operation. Authorities determined that no individuals were on the vessel. They further found that the propellers and boat plug were missing, and someone had removed all electronics from the vessel. The Coast Guard spent more than $14,000 for its search and rescue efforts and the New York State Police spent close to $1,300.

Investigators subsequently traced the vessel to Migitskiy, who claimed that he had given it to unknown individuals two weeks prior. A witness confirmed, and surveillance video depicted, Migitskiy placing the vessel in the water, and then using a different boat to tow the vessel out into the lake, where authorities recovered it.

The U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office, the New York State Police, the Gates Police Department, the Rochester Fire Department, the Irondequoit Police Department, and the Greece Police Department conducted the investigation.

United States v. Alain Armando Hernandez, et al., No. 22-CR-20535 (S.D. Fla.), AUSA Tom Watts-FitzGerald

Over the past two months, a court has sentenced seven defendants for violating the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 703, 706, 707(b)(2),(d)). A total of ten defendants have pleaded guilty to trafficking in migratory birds as a result of Operation Ornery Birds II. The defendants charged in the following cases have pleaded guilty:

United States v. Alain Armando Hernandez, No. 22-CR-20535

United States v. Daniel Hernandez Matos, No. 22-CR-20536

United States v. Alejandro Hernandez Valero, No. 23-CR-20119

United States v. Julio Cesar Santana Menduina, No. 22-CR-20537

United States v. Andres Hernandez Rivera, No. 22-CR-20538

United States v. Felix Yoan Diaz Montesinos, No. 23-CR-20120

United States v. Conrado Torres Aleman, No. 23-CR-20121

United States v. Armando Espino Gonzalez, No. 22-CR-20590

United States v. Onelio Rene Hernandez, Jr., No. 22-CR-20591

United States v. Yolando Cruz Sardina, No. 22-CR-20589

As of August 31, 2023, the court has sentenced the following seven of these ten defendants: Espino Gonzalez will pay a $1,000 fine and complete a six-month term of probation. Hernandez Valero will pay a $250 fine and complete a one-year term of supervised release, following one day time served. Diaz Montesinos will pay a $1,000 fine and complete six months’ supervised release, following one day time served. Santana Menduina will pay a $3,000 fine and complete six months’ supervised release, following one day time served. Onelio Hernandez, Jr., will pay a $2,500 fine and complete a three-year term of probation. Cruz Sardina will complete nine months’ supervised release, following one day time served, and perform 50 hours of community service. Hernandez Rivera will pay a $2,500 fine and complete a one-year term of supervised release, following one day time served.

From May 2020 through October 2022, the defendants acquired the birds through a variety of means, including using baited bird traps throughout the Miami region. Among the species they collected and sold were Indigo Buntings, Blue Grosbeaks, Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, Painted Buntings, Northern Cardinals, and Lazuli Buntings, all of which are highly prized for their colorful plumage and singing abilities. They bartered with, purchased from, and sold the birds to people throughout the United States using internet sites frequented by traffickers.

Federal and state agents recovered more than 500 illegally-taken birds as a result of the operation. They successfully released the majority into the wild, although some of the birds perished.

The U.S. United States Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission conducted the investigation.

Environmental Crimes Bulletin