Overview
- Federal prosecutors announced Friday that Donald Do of Daly City was arrested and charged with conspiracy and Lacey Act crimes tied to an alleged plan to ship 292 loggerhead musk turtles to Taiwan.
- Investigators say a partner secured a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service export permit using Do’s claim that he hatched and raised the turtles, then Do bought wild-caught animals from Florida and other states and sought more.
- Do pleaded not guilty at a May 13 hearing in federal court in San Francisco, with a bond hearing set for May 21 and a status conference scheduled for July 31, according to court records and the DOJ.
- The investigation reaches into a wider network that includes Albert Bazaar, detained earlier in Phoenix and accused of poaching nearly 1,800 turtles from Florida, from whom Do allegedly tried to obtain more than 200 animals.
- Run under Operation Southern Hot Herps, the probe enforces laws that bar false wildlife paperwork and trade in animals taken in violation of state rules, with loggerhead musk turtles newly protected since November 2022 and penalties reaching up to five years in prison and $250,000 per count if convicted.