All USAO Press Releases

A Laredo grand jury has indicted a 31-year-old Houston man for his role in trafficking boots made of sea turtle skin

SAN DIEGO – Naim Lajud Libien was arrested and charged with smuggling 12 protected Orange Fronted Parakeets into the U.S. stuffed inside the boots he was wearing and inside a seat compartment in his car. At least two of the birds died, and a third appeared to have a broken neck.

Michael Kulikoff, 39, of California City, was arrested today on an indictment charging him with conspiracy to transport and cause to be transported a hazardous waste without a manifest and placing another person in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury

Two companies responsible for the operation of the J.H. Baxter wood treatment facility in Eugene, Oregon, and their president, were sentenced Tuesday for hazardous waste and Clean Air Act violations. Collectively, they were ordered to pay a total of $1.5 million in criminal fines. In addition, the court ordered the companies to serve five years of probation and the companies’ president, Georgia Baxter-Krause, 62, of Deschutes County, Oregon, to serve 90 days in federal prison and one year of supervised release.

A federal judge in Oregon sentenced the two companies responsible for the operation of the J.H. Baxter wood treatment facility in Eugene, Oregon, and their president, for hazardous waste and Clean Air Act violations. Collectively, they were ordered to pay a total of $1.5 million in criminal fines. In addition, the court ordered the companies to serve five years of probation and the companies’ president, Georgia Baxter-Krause, of Deschutes, Oregon, to serve 90 days in prison and one year of supervised release.

SAN DIEGO – Sarmad Ghaled Dafar of Houston, Texas was sentenced in federal court today to four months in custody and 180 days home confinement for trafficking six protected baby Mexican Spider Monkeys. He was also ordered to pay $23,501.70 in restitution for the cost of quarantining three of the monkeys at the San Diego Zoo.

ABINGDON, Va. – Coby Brummett pleaded recently to unlawfully digging ginseng within the boundaries of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park and was sentenced to 30 days of imprisonment.  

CHARLESTON, S.C. —Lauren H. DeLoach, 69, of Saint Helena Island, has pleaded guilty to Lacey Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) charges for importing and selling sperm whale teeth and bones.

LAS VEGAS – A federal jury convicted two Henderson, Nev., men today of damaging ancient rock formations at the Lake Mead National Recreation Area in Nevada.