Peruvian grower gets 21 months for smuggling rare orchids

Associated Press


MIAMI - A prominent Peruvian orchid grower was sentenced Tuesday to almost
two years in federal prison for scheming to smuggle prized tropical lady
slipper orchids into the United States.

Manuel Arias Silva will spend one year and nine months in prison for
shipping internationally protected wild orchids intermingled with
nursery-raised flowers to a Texas dealer several times to feed the desires
of high-end hobbyists from 1999 to last year.

U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz sentenced Arias to the low end of the
federal guidelines on his guilty plea to two counts. He admitted shipping
2,050 orchids, including the endangered Phragmipedium species, worth $45,500
from Peru through Miami to suburban Houston.

"Judge Seitz did the best and the fairest she could under the
circumstances," said defense attorney Peter Raben.

The dealer, George W. Norris of Spring, Texas, also has pleaded guilty and
faces sentencing Sept. 2. The investigation was based on a tip about Norris
offering endangered species for sale on the Internet.

Norris instructed Arias to ship through South Florida because U.S.
Department of Agriculture inspectors at Miami International Airport were
more lax than their counterparts in Houston, according to papers and e-mails
seized in the investigation.

Arias, 70, was one of three Peruvian growers with permission to cultivate
endangered and newly discovered orchids from recently deforested areas. He
apologized in a letter to the judge asking for mercy and noting his
"sincere" conservation efforts.

The Peruvian lady slippers, known as "phrags" in collecting circles, are
considered seriously endangered in the wild and are protected by
international treaty. Nursery-raised varieties can be exported with
government permits.