{"id":59397,"date":"2025-08-11T16:00:51","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T23:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=59397"},"modified":"2025-08-11T16:14:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T23:14:40","slug":"brooklyn-man-pleads-guilty-to-smuggling-live-turtles-as-plastic-toys","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=59397","title":{"rendered":"Brooklyn Man Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Live Turtles as \u201cPlastic Toys\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\" title=\"\" data-start=\"156\" data-end=\"361\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><strong>BUFFALO, N.Y.\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" title=\"\" data-start=\"156\" data-end=\"361\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><strong data-start=\"172\" data-end=\"189\">Wei Qiang Lin<\/strong>, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to smuggling hundreds of protected turtles to Hong Kong by hiding them in socks and falsely labeling the shipments as \u201cplastic animal toys,&#8221; officials announced Monday.<\/span><\/p>\n<p title=\"\" data-start=\"156\" data-end=\"361\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" title=\"U.S. v. Lin - Turtles Illegally Shipped, and Empty Shipping Box\" src=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/d9\/styles\/d06\/public\/2025-08\/US-v.-Wei-Qiang-Lin_01_0_0.jpg?itok=T6PKR5ce\" alt=\"U.S. v. Lin - Turtles Illegally Shipped, and Empty Shipping Box\" width=\"600\" height=\"480\" \/><\/p>\n<div class=\"image-credit__wrp position-absolute\">\n<div class=\"image-credit__credit\">Photo of intercepted eastern box turtles; from the criminal complaint in United States v. Wei Qiang Lin, 25-cr-100 in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York. Credit: USFWS.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"363\" data-end=\"645\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1958 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/U.S.-Fish-and-Wildlife-Service-252x300.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"252\" height=\"300\" \/>From August 2023 to November 2024, Lin sent about <strong data-start=\"413\" data-end=\"428\">222 parcels<\/strong> containing <strong data-start=\"440\" data-end=\"455\">850 turtles<\/strong> worth roughly <strong data-start=\"470\" data-end=\"486\">$1.4 million<\/strong>. Border inspectors found the turtles bound and taped inside knotted socks. Lin also shipped 11 other parcels containing reptiles, including venomous snakes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"647\" data-end=\"831\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Most of the animals were eastern and three-toed box turtles \u2014 colorful, highly prized species protected under the <strong data-start=\"761\" data-end=\"828\">Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\" data-start=\"833\" data-end=\"1001\"><span style=\"font-size: 20px;\">Lin faces up to <strong data-start=\"849\" data-end=\"873\">five years in prison<\/strong>, a $250,000 fine, and three years of supervised release when sentenced Dec. 23. He has agreed to forfeit all seized reptiles.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BUFFALO, N.Y.\u00a0 Wei Qiang Lin, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to smuggling hundreds of protected turtles to Hong Kong by hiding them in socks and falsely labeling the shipments as \u201cplastic animal toys,&#8221;&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59401,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-59397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Brooklyn Man Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Live Turtles as \u201cPlastic Toys\u201d<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"BUFFALO, N.Y.\u00a0 Wei Qiang Lin, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to smuggling hundreds of protected turtles to Hong Kong by hiding them in socks and falsely\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=59397\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Brooklyn Man Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Live Turtles as \u201cPlastic Toys\u201d\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BUFFALO, N.Y.\u00a0 Wei Qiang Lin, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to smuggling hundreds of protected turtles to Hong Kong by hiding them in socks and falsely\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=59397\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-11T23:00:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-08-11T23:14:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/images-3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"299\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"168\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59397#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59397\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Brooklyn Man Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Live Turtles as \u201cPlastic Toys\u201d\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-11T23:00:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-11T23:14:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59397\"},\"wordCount\":166,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59397#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/images-3.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"American Justice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59397#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59397\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59397\",\"name\":\"Brooklyn Man Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Live Turtles as \u201cPlastic Toys\u201d\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59397#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59397#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/images-3.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-11T23:00:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-08-11T23:14:40+00:00\",\"description\":\"BUFFALO, N.Y.\u00a0 Wei Qiang Lin, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to smuggling hundreds of protected turtles to Hong Kong by hiding them in socks and falsely\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59397\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=59397#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/images-3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/images-3.jpg\",\"width\":299,\"height\":168},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\"&quot;Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.&quot; \u2014  Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Brooklyn Man Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Live Turtles as \u201cPlastic Toys\u201d","description":"BUFFALO, N.Y.\u00a0 Wei Qiang Lin, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to smuggling hundreds of protected turtles to Hong Kong by hiding them in socks and falsely","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=59397","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Brooklyn Man Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Live Turtles as \u201cPlastic Toys\u201d","og_description":"BUFFALO, N.Y.\u00a0 Wei Qiang Lin, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to smuggling hundreds of protected turtles to Hong Kong by hiding them in socks and falsely","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=59397","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2025-08-11T23:00:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-08-11T23:14:40+00:00","og_image":[{"width":299,"height":168,"url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/images-3.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=59397#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=59397"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"Brooklyn Man Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Live Turtles as \u201cPlastic Toys\u201d","datePublished":"2025-08-11T23:00:51+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-11T23:14:40+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=59397"},"wordCount":166,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=59397#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/images-3.jpg","articleSection":["American Justice"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=59397#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=59397","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=59397","name":"Brooklyn Man Pleads Guilty to Smuggling Live Turtles as \u201cPlastic Toys\u201d","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=59397#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=59397#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/images-3.jpg","datePublished":"2025-08-11T23:00:51+00:00","dateModified":"2025-08-11T23:14:40+00:00","description":"BUFFALO, N.Y.\u00a0 Wei Qiang Lin, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to smuggling hundreds of protected turtles to Hong Kong by hiding them in socks and falsely","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=59397"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=59397#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/images-3.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/images-3.jpg","width":299,"height":168},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":"&quot;Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.&quot; \u2014  Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=59397"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":59398,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59397\/revisions\/59398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/59401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=59397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=59397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=59397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}