SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH
Seven boa constrictors seized in the United States were returned to Brazil in connection with an illegal wildlife scheme, federal officials said Wednesday.
“This case exhibited many of the hallmarks that make illegal wildlife trafficking a growing international scourge, including actors motivated by greed who illegally smuggled rare and precious wildlife across international boundaries,” said Assistant Attorney General Leslie Caldwell. “The return of the precious snakes to Brazil brings to an end this years-long international saga, and serves as an example of our commitment to working with law enforcement partners in Brazil and elsewhere to combat transnational crime.”
The seven boa constrictors are the offspring of a rare and extremely valuable white (leucistic) boa constrictor known as “Lucy” or “Diamond Princess” that was found in the Niterói district of Rio de Janerio in 2006, according to authorities.
Because of its rarity, officials said Brazilian authorities housed the white boa at the Niterói Zoo, a private foundation that rescued and rehabilitated injured wild animals.
In January 2009, Jeremy Stone, a Utah-based collector, breeder and seller of reptiles, traveled to Brazil, secured possession of the snake and unlawfully returned with it back to the United States, officials said.
After learning that Stone was marketing snakes bred from a rare white boa, the Brazilian government requested assistance from the United States in securing the return of the leucistic boa and any offspring.
Thereafter, pursuant to a mutual legal assistance treaty, federal investigators obtained a warrant authorizing the seizure of the snake and any offspring from Stone’s property in Utah, according to authorities.
In executing the warrant, agents from the FBI learned that the leucistic boa constrictor had died. Agents turned the offspring over to the U.S. Marshals Service, which delivered the eight surviving offspring to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. One of the snakes died shortly thereafter.
In July 2014, officials said Stone pleaded guilty plea to unlawfully transporting wildlife into the United States. As part of his plea agreement, Stone agreed to forfeit the boa’s offspring to the United States.
In October 2014, officials said the government of Brazil filed a petition asserting its ownership of the white boa and its offspring because it had been caught in the Brazilian wild.
