Cougar bones, tiger pelt: couple guilty in Oregon wildlife case – KDRV

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EUGENE, Ore. – A husband and wife from Anaheim, California, were sentenced to three years’ probation and a $10,000 fine each for their roles in trafficking wildlife between Oregon and Vietnam.
Linh Luu and Kevin Le pleaded guilty in federal court in Eugene to violating the Lacey Act. According to court documents, between September 2019 and May 2021, they processed $51,100 in payments to help someone in Vietnam illegally move wildlife items to and from Oregon.
The trafficked items included American black bear gallbladders and cougar bones, which were shipped to Vietnam. Lion teeth, segments of black rhinoceros and white rhinoceros horns and a tiger pelt were all imported into Oregon.
Court documents show Luu and Le met an undercover federal agent in December 2020 in a parking lot. They accepted $12,000 in cash as a down payment for part of a rhino horn and discussed methods to avoid U.S. banking regulations designed to detect illegal transactions. They later each received nearly $5,000 in electronic payments for the horn segment, which was shipped to Oregon disguised as a household decoration.
“Wildlife trafficking threatens some of the world’s most vulnerable species and fuels criminal networks that profit from their destruction,” U.S. Attorney for the District of Oregon Scott Bradford said. “This case demonstrates that our office will hold accountable not only the poachers, but also the financial facilitators who keep these markets alive.”
Doug Ault, assistant director of the Office of Law Enforcement for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the investigation shows wildlife trafficking isn’t a victimless crime. “It’s the financial engine behind the slaughter of species like rhinos, tigers, and black bears,” Ault said. “Poachers take the wildlife, but organizers and financial facilitators make the killing profitable, and the Service and our law enforcement partners will continue pursuing everyone who builds and bankrolls these networks.”
All of the wildlife involved in this case is protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, a treaty signed by the United States, Vietnam and 183 other governments. Trade in listed species is prohibited without a permit, which the defendants did not obtain. Black bears and cougars are native to Oregon and are prized by some for use in traditional Asian medicine.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement investigated the case with help from Homeland Security Investigations and the Oregon State Police.
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