Author: MIL OSI Publisher

Source: United States Attorneys General 4

Source: United States Attorneys General 13

Kin Keung Ho, of Staten Island, New York, pleaded guilty today for his role in trafficking turtles to Asia. Lihua Owen Ma, also of Staten Island, pleaded guilty to a similar charge on July 1. 

According to documents filed in court, Ho and Ma were separately charged with exporting multiple species of U.S. native turtles, including eastern box turtles, western box turtles, three-toed box turtles, spotted turtles, and diamondback terrapins. The defendants each pleaded guilty to a Lacey Act felony and admitted they created false labels for the packages without having any of the required permits or declarations. Ho admitted he shipped numerous packages between June 1, 2024, and Nov. 13, 2025. During the plea hearing, the government proffered that Ho shipped approximately 99 packages containing 578 turtles. Ho falsely labeled the contents as containing crystals or stones. Ma acknowledged illegally exporting between May 25, 2021, and May 5, 2023. 

Stock photo of spotted turtle. Credit: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

These turtles species are prized in the international pet trade, particularly in China. All of the turtles are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), to which 185 governments, including the United States and China, are parties. CITES regulates trade in wildlife, fish, and plant species that are or may become threatened with extinction. 

Stock photo of western box turtle. Credit: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

The Lacey Act is the nation’s oldest wildlife trafficking law. It prohibits, among other things, creating false labels for wildlife shipped in international or interstate commerce. The maximum penalty is five years in prison and $250,000 fine, or twice the economic gain or loss. The court will schedule sentencing hearings at a later date. 

Stock photo of diamondback terrapin. Credit: U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson of the Energy and Natural Resources Division (ENRD) and Assistant Director Doug Ault of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement made the announcement.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement in Valley Stream, New York, investigated these cases with assistance from the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

Senior Trial Attorney Ryan Connors and Trial Attorney Rachel Roberts of ENRD’s Environmental Crimes Section are prosecuting the cases.

Source: United States Attorneys General

A former Guatemalan mayor, Romeo Ramos Cruz, 58, pleaded guilty today to one count of conspiracy to import more than five kilograms of cocaine into the United States. Ramos Cruz arrived in the United States on Aug. 4, 2025, following extradition from Guatemala, where he had been detained at the request of the United States. 

According to court documents, from 2022 through 2023, Ramos Cruz served as a member of a Guatemala-based drug trafficking organization responsible for transporting cocaine intended for U.S. markets. During this time, Ramos Cruz served as the mayor of Santa Lucia municipality in Guatemala’s Escuintla Department and exploited his official position to facilitate the organization’s operations. In furtherance of the conspiracy, Ramos Cruz appointed a known drug trafficker to a high-ranking position in the municipal police force and also used his authority and access as mayor to coordinate logistics and transportation of a cocaine shipment destined for the United States, agreeing to help disguise the shipment from Venezuela to Guatemala as a donation of cement to his municipality. He prepared a letter on official municipal letterhead intended to help the shipment evade inspection by Guatemalan authorities.

Ramos Cruz faces a mandatory minimum penalty of 10 years in prison and a maximum penalty of life in prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set. 

Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and Assistant Director in Charge Darren B. Cox of the FBI Washington Field Office (WFO) made the announcement.

The FBI WFO led U.S. investigative efforts with assistance from the Drug Enforcement Administration Miami Division and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations New Orleans Field Office. The Justice Department’s Office of International Affairs working with Guatemalan law enforcement authorities, INTERPOL, and the FBI provided critical assistance in securing the arrest and extradition of Ramos Cruz to the United States.

Trial Attorneys Roger Polack and Kirk Handrich of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section (MNF) are prosecuting the case.

MNF’s mission is to take the profit out of crime, eliminate drug cartels, and protect the U.S. financial system. MNF pursues criminal prosecutions and criminal and civil asset recovery actions involving: financial facilitators who launder profits for criminals; financial institutions and their officers and employees whose actions threaten the U.S. financial system and financial institutions; international money launderers who support transnational organized crime; and the top command and control of international drug trafficking organizations.

MNF’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Unit investigates and prosecutes the top command and control elements of international drug cartels, drug trafficking organizations and related transnational criminal organizations.

This case is part of the Homeland Security Task Force (HSTF) initiative established by Executive Order 14159, Protecting the American People Against Invasion. The HSTF is a whole-of-government partnership dedicated to eliminating criminal cartels, foreign gangs, transnational criminal organizations, and human smuggling and trafficking rings operating in the United States and abroad. Through historic interagency collaboration, the HSTF directs the full might of U.S. law enforcement towards identifying, investigating, and prosecuting the full spectrum of crimes committed by these organizations, which have long fueled violence and instability within our borders. In performing this work, the HSTF places special emphasis on investigating and prosecuting those engaged in child trafficking or other crimes involving children. The HSTF further utilizes all available tools to prosecute and remove the most violent criminal aliens from the United States.