DALY CITY – A Daly City man is facing allegations he tried to illegally export nearly 300 protected turtles to Asia, prosecutors said.
Donald Do is charged with conspiracy and violating the Lacey Act, which bans international and domestic wildlife trafficking, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The act makes it a crime to trade in wildlife, fish and plants that have been taken in violation of other federal, state or foreign laws, as well as prohibits falsifying documents used for wildlife shipments and failing to mark wildlife shipments.
Prosecutors said Do and an unidentified accomplice attempted to ship 292 loggerhead musk turtles to Taiwan between December 2022 and May 2024. The accomplice allegedly obtained an export permit from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service based on a false claim by Do that he hatched and raised the reptiles when he had not.
The turtles are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna of Flora.
After obtaining the permit, Do bought turtles poached from the wild in Florida and elsewhere, and tried to acquire more, prosecutors said. He allegedly told sellers he was willing to take “wild caught” and sent instructions to ship the turtles to San Francisco.
Prosecutors said Do and his accomplice also tried to obtain more than 200 turtles from Albert Bazaar, who was detained earlier this month in Arizona on wildlife trafficking charges.
After unsuccessfully exporting the turtles, Do tried to conceal his role by lying to his accomplice that he had sold the reptiles to other domestic buyers, prosecutors said.
If convicted, Do faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of the conspiracy and Lacey Act charges. He is set to return to court July 31 for a status conference.