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Jason Ksepka, 44, of Farmingdale, also was prohibited from "harassing, harming, pursuing, hunting, shooting, wounding, trapping, capturing, or collecting wildlife or attempting to engage in such conduct," U.S Attorney for New Jersey Philip R. Sellinger said.
U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi also barred him from the "the import, export, transport, sale, purchase, or barter of any wildlife," Sellinger said.Ksepka also agreed as part of his plea deal to pay a $1,000 fine to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Lacey Act Reward Fund.
Ksepka shipped the package via U.S. Priority Mail Express from the post office in Lambertville, Sellinger said.
An unidentified sender paid him $500 to falsely label the package and ship it to Hong Kong, on top of $500 that he’d already given him, the U.S. attorney said.
Ksepka labeled the contents as “Toys” and the sender as “Luke Jacobs” on a U.S. Postal Service international shipping label and customs form that accompanied the package, Sellinger said.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service inspectors intercepted the package at the mail facility at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Queens and recovered the rhinoceros iguanas in November 2017, he said.
Rather than face trial, Ksepka took a deal from the government, pleading guilty last September in U.S. District Court in Trenton to violating the Lacey Act by falsely labeling an international shipment of wildlife, Sellinger said.
As part of the deal, he agreed to pay a fine of $1,000 to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Lacey Act Reward Fund, he said.
Sellinger credited special agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement with the investigation leading to the guilty plea, secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen P. O’Leary of his Government Fraud Unit in Newark.
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