Louisa man trafficked $13,000 worth of turtles on Facebook Marketplace

A Louisa County man amassed nearly $13,000 selling box turtles on Facebook Marketplace, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Published: Apr. 25, 2023 at 6:29 AM EDT
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A Louisa County man amassed nearly $13,000 selling box turtles on Facebook Marketplace, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The Virginia Mercury reports that Stanlee Fazi pleaded guilty to trafficking turtles in a federal court in Alexandria after admitting he illegally collected the animals from the wild, bound them in socks and shipped them by FedEx to online buyers across the country on at least 27 occasions from 2017 to 2020.

The trafficking of the animals violated the federal Lacey Act, which prohibits the interstate transportation or sale of any wildlife captured or possessed illegally under state law and carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Virginia banned the catching of box turtles, as well as other common reptiles and amphibians, from the wild in 2021.

Read more on virginiamercury.com >

NBC12 is a partner with The Virginia Mercury, an independent, nonprofit online news...
NBC12 is a partner with The Virginia Mercury, an independent, nonprofit online news organization covering state government and policy.(Virginia Mercury)