OC Couple Who Trafficked Endangered Tigers, Rhinos & More Sentenced

ANAHEIM, CA — An Orange County husband and wife pleaded guilty Friday to trafficking protected wildlife between Oregon and Vietnam and were sentenced to three years' probation and fined $10,000, prosecutors said Friday.

Linh Luu and Kevin Le, of Anaheim, pleaded guilty to violating the Lacey Act in federal court in Eugene, Oregon, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

According to prosecutors, the couple processed $51,100 in payments from Sept. 2019 through May 2021 to help a person in Vietnam illegally move wildlife items to and from Oregon.

The wildlife parts included American black bear gallbladders, cougar bones, lion teeth, a tiger pelt and portions of black and white rhinoceros horns.

According to a government sentencing memorandum, Luu and Le met an undercover federal agent in a parking lot in December 2020 and accepted $12,000 in cash as a down payment for part of a rhinoceros horn.

The couple discussed ways to avoid U.S. banking regulations that could detect illegal transactions, prosecutors said.

Luu and Le later each received nearly $5,000 in electronic payments for the horn segment, which was shipped to Oregon disguised as a household decoration. Prosecutors said the sale was intended to build trust for larger future transactions.

All of the wildlife whose parts were trafficked in the case are listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, a treaty regulating commercial trade in species that are or may become extinct.

Trade in species covered by the treaty is prohibited without a permit. Luu and Le did not have permits, according to the Justice Department.

Black bears and cougars are native to Oregon and are prized by some for use in traditional Asian medicine, the department said. Lions, tigers and black and white rhinoceroses are also protected under the Endangered Species Act.

"The Lacey Act is the country's oldest wildlife trafficking statute and prohibits, among other things, buying or selling wildlife that was illegally imported or exported," the Justice Department said.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Office of Law Enforcement investigated the case with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations and the Oregon State Police.

City News Service contributed to this report.