Irish National Sentenced in US Federal Court for Illegal Purchase and Sale of Rhino Horns

An Irish national arrested for playing a role in the illegal purchase and sale of rhino horns has been sentenced in a US federal court.

Michael Slattery Jr. will serve 14 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for his role in violating the Lacey Act, which prohibits trade in wildlife, fish or plants that have been illegally taken, transported or sold, according to a statement from the US Department of Justice.

Slattery was also fined $10,000 and forced to relinquish $50,000 in illegally acquired proceeds stemming from his acquisition and subsequent sale of four rhino horns.

The conviction, laid down Jan. 10 by US District Judge John Gleeson at the federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y., stemmed from a 2010 event where Slattery traveled from England to Austin, Texas and recruited a legal Texas resident to buy a mounted black rhino head from a taxidermy auction on his behalf.

It is illegal for a non-resident to participate in such an auction or purchase such an item in the US. The rhino head had two horns, which are highly prized in some circles. Slattery acquired the rhino head for $18,000, according to a court report in The New York Times.

Federal court documents report that Slattery and his accomplices, including his brother John and another Irishman, Patrick Sheridan, then traveled to New York City and used a fraudulent Endangered Species Bill of Sale to sell the two auctioned horns and two others to an unnamed buyer for $50,000. John Slattery and Sheridan were not charged with any crimes and neither is currently believed to be in the US.

The horns - a high-dollar item in the traditional Chinese medical market - are so valuable that they were quickly resold for $80,000, then again to someone else for $108,000, all before leaving the US, the Times reported.

Slattery's attorney argued that his client had no hand in the death of the auctioned rhino. But Judge Gleeson did not find that position to be a credible defense, the Times reported.

" 'I didn't make these drugs, all I did was distribute them,' " the judge said as a comparison. " 'I didn't create this child pornography, I just distribute it.' "

Slattery is reportedly a member of The Rathkeale Rovers, a closely-knit group of extended families that live a nomadic, but affluent, lifestyle. The Irish news website The Independent said the group, also referred to at the "Irish Travelers," are "Ireland's nomadic yuppies."

Slattery was first arrested in September 2013 and has since been held in a federal holding facility. Upon his arrest, the US Department of Justice, citing information from Europol, said the Rathkeale Rovers "have been involved in an epidemic of raids on museums in Europe in which rhinoceros horns have been stolen."

In the book "Gypsy Empire" the Irish journalist Eamon Dillon wrote that the nomadic group has "cornered the global market in supplying antique rhino horns to the traditional Chinese medical market."

"The illicit trafficking in black rhino horns encourages the wholesale destruction of these protected animals. Slattery showed no regard for the black rhino's tenuous hold on survival, as he allegedly used a straw buyer and fraudulent documents to convert the protected animal parts into cash," Loretta E. Lynch, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, said in September.

Upon Friday's conviction, Lynch said the US takes such wildlife crimes seriously.

"Michael Slattery's actions were part of the exploitation and decimation of these animals from their only known predator - man. He is now being held to account for his actions in furthering this devastating trade."

Slattery's arrest and conviction was a result of "Operation Crash," a nationwide effort led by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Justice Department to investigate and prosecute those involved in the black market trade of endangered rhinoceros horns.