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WASHINGTON — A US man has pleaded guilty to illegally importing and exporting dozens of live scorpions from and to Germany, hiding some of them in a box falsely labeled “chocolates,” the Department of Justice said.
Darren Dennis Drake, 39, of Eugene, Oregon, faces up to one year in prison, a $100,000 fine and three years of supervised release, the department said in a statement.
Drake pleaded guilty in federal court on Monday to conspiring to violate the Lacey Act, which bans illegal trafficking in wildlife.
He was accused of importing and exporting live scorpions without an export license from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
The justice department said one package of scorpions intercepted by US customs was falsely labeled “chocolates.”
Sentencing has been set for June 22.
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