California Couple Sentenced for Trafficking Protected Wildlife
Friday, October 23, 2026 - Linh Luu and Kevin Le, a husband and wife of Anaheim, California, pleaded guilty today in federal court in Eugene, Oregon, to violating the Lacey Act. The court sentenced them to three years’ probation and a $10,000 fine each for their roles in trafficking wildlife between Oregon and Vietnam.
Photo of tiger pelt trafficked by defendants, from sentencing memo in case number 26-cr-00297 in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon.
According to court documents and statements made in court, Luu and Le admitted that from September 2019 through May 2021, they processed $51,100 in payments to aid an individual in Vietnam to illegally move wildlife items to and from Oregon. The wildlife parts included American black bear gallbladders and cougar bones, all shipped to Vietnam; and lion teeth, segments from black rhinoceros and white rhinoceros horns, and a tiger pelt, all imported to Oregon.
According to a sentencing submission filed by the government, Luu and Le met an undercover federal agent in December 2020 in a parking lot. They accepted $12,000 in cash as a down payment for part of a rhino horn and discussed ways to avoid U.S. banking regulations that could detect illicit transactions. They later each received nearly $5,000 in electronic payments for the horn segment, which was then shipped to Oregon disguised as a household decoration. The sale was discussed as a way to build trust for future, larger deals.
Lion teeth trafficked by the defendants to Oregon, from sentencing memo in case number 26-cr-00297 in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon.
All of the wildlife that had parts trafficked in this case are listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), a treaty that the United States, Vietnam, and 183 other governments have signed to regulate commercial trade in species that are or may become extinct. Trade in listed species is prohibited without a permit, which the defendants did not receive. Black bears and cougars are native to Oregon and are prized by some for use in traditional Asian medicine. Lions, tigers, and black and white rhinoceroses are also protected under the Endangered Species Act. The Lacey Act is the country’s oldest wildlife trafficking statute and prohibits, among other things, buying or selling wildlife that was illegally imported or exported.
Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Justice Department’s Energy and Natural Resources Division (ENRD), U.S. Attorney Scott E. Bradford for the District of Oregon, and Assistant Director Douglas Ault of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) made the announcement.
Photo of a part of a rhino horn (left) and the same rhino horn part disguised as a house good to thwart customs (right), from sentencing memo in case number 26-cr-00297 in U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon.
The USFWS’s Office of Law Enforcement investigated the case with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations and the Oregon State Police.
Senior Trial Attorney Ryan Connors of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney William McLaren for the District of Oregon prosecuted the case.
U.S. Department of Justice
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Source: Justice.gov
