US lab primate dealer indicted for Indonesia Baby Monkey Scam

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The press release that follows is from the US Department of Justice. It

took five years for there to be an indictment in this case. More

information is available on IPPL's web site www.ippl.org/

 

U.S. Department of Justice

United States Attorney

Northern District of Illinois

Patrick J. Fitzgerald United States Attorney

Federal Building 219 South Dearborn Street, Chicago Illinois 60604

(312)353-5300

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WEDNESDAY APRIL 3, 2002

AUSA Diane MacArthur (312) 353-5352

AUSA/PIO Randall Samborn (312) 353-5318

 

U. S. INDICTS SOUTH CAROLINA PRIMATE FIRM AND OFFICERS FOR

IMPORTATION AND HUMANE TRANSPORTATION WILDLIFE VIOLATIONS

 

CHICAGO - A South Carolina firm engaged in breeding and selling non-human

primates for use in medical research, two current officers and a former

officer were indicted for allegedly violating federal wildlife protection

laws arising from four shipments of monkeys known by the scientific name

" Cynomolgus macaques, " which entered the United States through O'Hare

International Airport from Indonesia in 1997. The firm, LABS of Virginia,

Inc., allegedly imported the macaques in order to establish its own breeding

colony in Yemassee, S. Carolina, where it is based, Patrick J. Fitzgerald,

United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, announced

today.

 

A federal grand jury returned a 12-count indictment late yesterday, alleging

that the shipments contained wild-caught macaques in violation of Indonesian

law and that the shipping documents falsely represented that the shipments

contained only macaques bred in captivity. The indictment also alleges that

three of the shipments contained nursing mothers and unweaned young in

violation of federal regulations.

 

In addition to charging the firm, the current officers named in the

indictment are Charles J. Stern, chairman of the board, and William Curtis

Henley III, a Labs board member. Also indicted was David M. Taub, who was

LABS's president at the time of the shipments. Taub, 59, of Beaufort, S.

Car., Stern, 44, of Newport News,Va., and Henley, 43, of Poquoson, Va., will

be arraigned later in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

 

According to the indictment, in 1996 LABS entered into negotiations with an

Indonesian firm, Indonesian Aquatics Export CV, known as Inquatex, to

purchase the breeding colony consisting of approximately 1,312 macaques. The

macaques in the Inquatex colony were classified under an international

treaty as a species that might become threatened unless trade in the species

was strictly limited. The United States and Indonesia were both parties to

the treaty, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of

Wild Fauna and Flora, known as " CITES. " The indictment alleges that, at the

same time, Indonesia had a law banning the export of the type of macaques in

the Inquatex colony if those macaques were wild-caught. The Inquatex colony

that Labs ultimately purchased consisted of both wild-caught and

captive-bred macaques. The four shipments of macaques sent from Inquatex to

Labs arrived at O'Hare Airport between Feb. 20, 1997, and May 30, 1997, the

indictment alleges, with permits and health certificates for each of the

shipments reflecting that they contained captive-bred macaques, when the

shipments actually contained a mix of wild-caught and captive-bred macaques.

The last three shipments contained between 17 to 19 pairs of nursing mothers

and unweaned young, according to the indictment.

 

LABS and Taub were charged in all 12 counts of the indictment. They were

charged with four felony counts of submitting false records in connection

with the four shipments, four felony counts of an importation violation, one

misdemeanor count of trafficking in wildlife in violation of a foreign

nation's (Indonesia) law, and three misdemeanor counts of shipping nursing

mothers and unweaned young in violation of federal regulations. Stern and

Henley were each charged in the one misdemeanor count alleging trafficking

in violation of a foreign law.

 

" This office treats seriously the obligation of importers of wildlife to

honor laws and regulations designed to protect certain species and to insure

their safe and humane transport, " Mr. Fitzgerald said.

 

Fitzgerald announced the charges with Mary Jane Lavin, Assistant Regional, Division of Law Enforcement for the United States Fish and

Wildlife Service. The case was investigated by Fish and Wildlife Special

Agent David Kirkby in Chicago. The government is being represented by

Assistant U.S. Attorney Diane MacArthur.

 

The crimes charged in the indictment carry the following maximum sentences

as to each count of conviction: (1) false records charges - five years

imprisonment and a $250,000 fine; (2) trafficking charge - one year

imprisonment and a $10,000 fine; (3) importation in violation of law

charges - 5 years and a $250,000 fine; and (4) humane transport violations -

one year imprisonment and a $10,000 fine.

 

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not

evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to

a fair trial at which the United States has the burden of proving guilt

beyond reasonable doubt.