A South Carolina man pleaded guilty on Thursday to importing sperm whale teeth and bones from four countries and selling them in the United States, federal prosecutors said.
The man, Lauren H. DeLoach, 69, of St. Helena Island, S.C., pleaded guilty to Lacey Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act charges for importing and selling sperm whale parts, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina.
Mr. DeLoach admitted to importing the sperm whale teeth and bones to South Carolina, including at least 30 shipments from Australia, Latvia, Norway and Ukraine, from July 2022 through September 2024, according to court documents and statements made in court.
Mr. DeLoach sold at least 85 pieces on eBay worth more than $18,000 and labeled the items as “plastic” to avoid detection by U.S. customs officials, prosecutors said.
The authorities said they had seized about $20,000 worth of sperm whale parts during a search of his residence.
It was not immediately clear on Sunday how Mr. DeLoach had obtained the items and who then bought them from him. The teeth and the bones are prized for decorations or use in artwork, such as engravings and carvings, prosecutors said.
Sperm whales, the largest species of toothed whale, are found in all deep oceans, from the Equator to the edge of the pack ice in the Arctic and Antarctic, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Females can grow up to 40 feet in length and males up to 52 feet, the agency said.
Sperm whales have been protected under the Endangered Species Act since 1970 and under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The Lacey Act makes it unlawful to sell any wildlife that has been illegally imported, prosecutors said.
“Illegal wildlife trafficking is a multibillion-dollar global business that endangers protected animals and fuels organized crime,” said Brook B. Andrews, the acting U.S. attorney for the District of South Carolina. “We will continue to enforce the Lacey Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act so vulnerable species like the sperm whale are not killed and sold for parts.”
Nathan S. Williams, a lawyer for Mr. DeLoach, said in a statement on Sunday that Mr. DeLoach “regrets his decisions and has accepted responsibility for them.”
Mr. DeLoach faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on the felony Lacey Act charge, and a maximum sentence of one year in prison for the misdemeanor Marine Mammal Protection Act violation.
The case was the latest involving protected wildlife.
In February, a California couple reached a plea agreement in Butte County, Calif., for violating fish and game laws after wildlife officers on a plane heard them boasting how they had once illegally hunted a mountain lion, and how they were smuggling the skull of an endangered turtle in their carry-on bag, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said.
