A man who sneaked a leopard skin and endangered rhinoceros hornsinto the United States and signed an e-mail message to a potentialcustomer as "Mike the Smuggler" was sentenced Friday to time served.
Michael W. Wilson, 43, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court inMarch following an investigation that began when his 2001 Internetadvertisement for the skull of an endangered primate called the aye-aye caught the attention of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents.
The skull was offered for $12,000.
In response to the agents' inquiry, Wilson offered other itemsand arranged to sell a leopard skin, which arrived wrapped as aChristmas present labeled for "Aunt Betty," U.S. Fish and Wildlifeofficials said.
Wilson, who lives and owns a business in Madagascar, also agreedto sell the agents two black rhinoceros horns. The black rhino isone of the most endangered of the rhinos.
Together, the skin and horns had a market value of between $5,000and $10,000, authorities said.
A federal judge in Buffalo issued an arrest warrant for Wilson in2003. In October 2004, he was detained in South Africa and deportedto the United States to face the charges. He has been in custody forsix months.
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