Guilty plea in Baby Monkey case

[Guest guest]

Good news, there has been a guilty plea in the infamous " Baby

Monkey " case. Although IPPL would have liked to see the three

indicted officials sent to prison, this hope was not realistic. There was

a lot of talk in the court documents about bribes paid to Indonesian

officials to procure export permits stating that monkeys as old as 15-16

years were " born " at a breeding colony that had existed for

less than ten years.

On 18 August 2004, the Chicago Tribune reported:

A South Carolina breeder and seller of monkeys for medical research

pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court, Chicago, to misrepresenting

a shipment of primates as having been bred in captivity when in fact many

had been captured in the wild.

Labs of Virginia Inc. pleaded guilty to one felony count of

submitting false records when it imported monkeys from Indonesia in 1997.

The case was heard here because the animals were brought into the U.S.

through O'Hare International Airport, officials said.

According to a plea agreement between the defendant and the U.S.

attorney's office entered today before U.S. District Judge Ruben

Castillo, the company faces two years of probation, a fine of $500,000

and forfeiture totaling $64,675. Sentencing was scheduled for Nov.

16.

Also as part of the agreement, the government at sentencing is to

dismiss charges against three former officers of Labs of Virginia. The

company currently is under new management, authorities said.

The company admitted guilt in connection to a shipment of 220

monkeys, 80 of which had been caught in the wild. That shipment was the

first of four totaling 846 primates, 327 of which were wild.

The animals are protected under the Convention on International Trade

in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, officials said.

['Firm admits trafficking in wild monkeys', By Matt O'Connor,

Tribune staff reporter]

Background information

http://www.aesop-project.org/Action_Alerts/Baby_Monkeys_UPDATE.htm

 

August 2004

JUSTICE FOR THE 'AIR FRANCE BABY MONKEYS'!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to the hard work -- and over seven years of perseverance -- of

the International Primate Protection League's Chairwoman, Dr. Shirley

McGreal, the 'Air France Baby Monkeys' are receiving justice!

It was over seven years ago that Dr. Shirley McGreal received an

eye-witness report from a person who had seen dozens of baby monkeys

pathetically packed in crates at Chicago's O'Hare Airport.

The monkeys had been consigned by the Indonesian animal dealer Agus

Darmawan to the firm LABS of Virginia which breeds monkeys for research

in Yemassee, South Carolina.

Shipment of infant animals violates U.S. law. IPPL obtained documents

showing that not only baby monkeys were included in the April and May

1997 shipments, but that wild-caught adult monkeys had been shipped on

fraudulent " captive-born " documents.

In the subsequent years, Dr. McGreal and IPPL members deluged

prosecutors and wildlife agents with letters, postcards, and petitions

demanding " Justice for the baby monkeys! "

On 3 April 2002, the company LABS of Virginia itself, along with

three company officers were indicted. The individuals were David Taub,

president of LABS at the time of the shipments; Charles Stern, Chairman

of the Board of LABS, and LABS Board member Curtis Henley.

LABS and Taub were each charged with eight (8) FELONIES and four (4)

misdemeanors (12 counts each) and facing steep fines and long prison

terms with Henley and Curtis each facing one charge.

A heart-felt " Thank you! " to Dr. Shirley McGreal and IPPL

for working so tirelessly for the 'Air France Baby Monkeys' as well as

all primates.

The press release appended below is from the U.S. Department of

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

and over seven years for the guilty plea.

More information is available on IPPL's web site at

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 Director, 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.

 

 

 

Dr. Shirley McGreal, Chairwoman

International Primate Protection League

PO Box 766

Summerville, SC 29484, USA

Phone - 843-871-2280, Fax- 843-871-7988

E-mail - smcgreal, Web:

www.ippl.org

" He who joyfully marches in rank and file has already earned my

contempt. He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the

spinal cord would suffice. "

--Albert

Einstein