FLORIDA — An 80-year-old businessman who illegally conspired to traffick in marine life was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to three years probation, officials said.
Richard Perrin, Romulus, Michigan, was sentenced to three years probation for conspiring with others to transport, sell and buy fish and wildlife, knowing that what they were doing violated Florida laws, according to the U.S. Justice Department.
When sentencing Perrin, U.S. District Judge Jose E. Martinez took into consideration Perrin’s “extensive cooperation” in helping prosecute others.
Perrin’s co-defendant, Joseph Franko, 35, also of Romulus, will be sentenced on April 14. According to the court documents, Perrin and Franko conspired to purchase, harvest and transport marine life and reptiles from Florida to Michigan from December 2008 and December 2011.
Perrin was the owner of the Romulus-based Tropicorium and Franko was his employee.
Tropicorium was engaged in the purchase and retail sale of marine life and reptiles, including sharks, marine invertebrates, Sea Fans, ornamental tropical fish, and alligators.
They failed to get the licenses required by Florida law for the marine life they caught during many trips to the Florida Keys in the area of Big Cypress National Preserve where they illegally poached juvenile alligators to sell through Tropicorium, said federal officials.
On one occasion, the defendants sold a baby alligator and illegal sea fans from a Florida trip to an undercover special agent of the Fish & Wildlife Service.