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Va. Orchid Collector Sentenced for Bringing Rare Plant Into U.S.
Updated: Tuesday, Nov. 2, 2004 - 8:05 AM

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - A Fauquier County man was sentenced to two years of
probation and fined $1,000 for bringing a rare orchid from Peru to a
Florida botanical garden.
James Michael Kovach, of Goldvein, pleaded guilty earlier this year to
two misdemeanor counts of violating the Endangered Species Act. He
apologized Monday and told a federal judge that didn't intend to
violate any laws.

Kovach, 49, bought the large peach-and-purple ladyslipper orchid at a
roadside flower stand in a Peruvian mountain village. He brought it to
Sarasota's Marie Selby Botanical Gardens, and experts named it after
him: Phragmipedium kovachii.

The find was called the most significant in the orchid world in the
last 100 years.

Kovach originally faced a felony smuggling charge, but agreed to plead
guilty to two counts of importing and possessing the orchid without a
proper permit. Each count carried a penalty of up to a year in prison
and a $100,000 fine.

U.S. District Judge Steven Merryday said he didn't believe Kovach
intentionally broke the laws.

The garden pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of accepting and
handling the flower and agreed in January to pay a $5,000 fine and
submit to three years' probation.

Selby horticulturist Wesley Higgins, head of the orchid identification
center, entered a plea agreement specifying house arrest for six
months, probation for a year and a $2,000 fine.

(Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

--j_a