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Wan Yee Ng, 41, was arrested on the morning of June 28 at an
Airbnb in Canaan as she was about to get into an inflatable
kayak with a duffle bag on Lake Wallace, according to a Border
Patrol agent's affidavit filed in federal court.
Agents had been notified by Royal Canadian Mounted Police that
two other people, including a man who was believed to be her
husband, had started to paddle an inflatable watercraft from the
Canadian side of the lake toward the United States, according to
court documents.
The agents searched her heavy duffle bag and found 29 live
eastern box turtles individually wrapped in socks, the affidavit
states. Eastern box turtles are known to be sold on the Chinese
black market for $1,000 each, the affidavit stated.
Her cellphone was seized, and a search by law enforcement found
communications showing that she tried to smuggle the turtles
into Canada so that they could eventually be sold for a profit
in Hong Kong, according to the plea agreement. Ng, from Hong
Kong, was living in Canada.
She pleaded guilty on Friday to one count of unlawfully
attempting to export and send 29 eastern box turtles out of the
United States, contrary to law. VTDigger first reported on the
plea deal.
She is scheduled to be sentenced in December and faces up to 10
years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
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