In case anyone missed it:


Flower Dealer Gets 17 Months for Smuggling

By Associated Press

October 6, 2004, 11:54 PM EDT

MIAMI -- An orchid dealer was sentenced Wednesday to a year and five months in federal prison for scheming to smuggle prized
tropical lady slipper orchids into the United States.

George W. Norris of Spring, Texas, was also sentenced to two years probation. Co-defendant Manuel Arias Silva, a Peruvian orchid
grower, pleaded guilty in June and was sentenced in July to a year and nine months in prison.

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

The investigation was based on a tip about Norris offering endangered species for sale on the Internet.

The Peruvian lady slippers are considered seriously endangered in the wild and are protected by international treaty. Nursery-raised
varieties can be exported with government permits.

Norris and Arias used invalid permits for the shipments and falsely labeled many of the plants to cover up the lack of a valid
permit, prosecutors said.

Copyright © 2004, The Associated Press



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