FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                         ENR
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15, 1996                          (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888
GERMAN NATIONAL PLEADS GUILTY TO INVOLVEMENT IN INTERNATIONAL WILDLIFE SMUGGLING RING

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A German national today pleaded guilty to participating in an international conspiracy to illegally smuggle rare and threatened Madagscan wildlife for sale in the United States and Canada, the Justice Department announced. A co-conspirator pleaded guilty last week to similar charges.

Wolfgang Michael Kloe of Rauenberg, Germany, pleaded guilty before Judge Anne Conway in U.S. District Court in Tampa, to conspiracy, smuggling, money laundering, attempted escape, and Lacey Act violations -- a federal law that protects wildlife. Kloe faces a maximum sentence of sixty years in prison and a $2 million fine.

On October 7, Simon David Harris of Blairgowrie, South Africa, plead guilty to a felony smuggling charge. Harris faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Both individuals are scheduled to be sentenced on January 10, 1997.

A federal grand jury indicted Kloe and Harris along with four others in August for participating in the international wildlife smuggling conspiracy. The indictment alleged that hundreds of rare snakes and tortoises were transported out of Madagascar to Europe, where they were then smuggled to the United States and Canada, usually by concealing them in airline passenger baggage. Once smuggled into North America, the wildlife was sold to collectors and dealers.

According to the indictment, purchasers paid for the smuggled animals by wire transfers of funds from Canada to the United States and from the United States to Europe.

"These guilty pleas are the result of the tireless efforts of Justice Department and other government investigators to track down those who engage in illegal wildlife trafficking -- an industry that generates billions of dollars in illegal profits every year," said Lois J. Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "The Department of Justice is committed to prosecuting those who violate international treaty and provisions of our own laws protecting threatened wildlife."

The smuggled animals included approximately 94 Madagascan Tree Boas, 25 Spider Tortoises and 51 Radiated Tortoises. All of these species are protected by international treaty, known as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora or, the acronym "CITIES." The Radiated Tortoise is also classified as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act.

Four other defendants indicted along with Mr. Kloe and Mr. Harris remain outside the United States and have not yet been arraigned. They include: Frank M. Lehmeyer of Frankfurt, Germany; Enrico Joseph Truant of Windsor, Ontario, Canada; Roland Werner of Germany; and Olaf Strohmann of Germany.
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