Louisa resident Stanlee Fazi, 41, pleaded guilty in federal court in Alexandria to trafficking turtles out of Fredericksburg in violation of the Lacey Act, according to the Department of Justice.

As part of his guilty plea, Fazi admitted that between July 2017 and June 2020, he illegally collected eastern box turtles from the wild and sold them on at least 27 occasions to buyers across the country.

The scheme involved Fazi collecting payments using Facebook Marketplace, and in turn, the turtles many times were then smuggled out of the country to Hong Kong and China as part of an illegal pet trade.

As part of the exchange, Fazi also admitted to binding the turtles in socks and shipping them by FedEx from Fredericksburg.

Turtles were sold to customers in:

• California;
• Colorado;
• Florida;
• Maryland;
• New Jersey;
• Ohio;
• Texas;
• Wisconsin.

Prosecutors say that Fazi pocketed approximately $12,700 during the operation.

According to officials, “the federal Lacey Act is the nation’s oldest wildlife trafficking statute and prohibits, among other things, transporting or selling wildlife in interstate commerce if the wildlife were illegally taken or possessed under state laws.

“The Commonwealth of Virginia also prohibits taking turtles from the wild or selling them.”

When he is sentenced in July, Fazi faces a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

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