Prosthetic leg hid smuggled reptiles

Published: Sept. 22, 2007 at 1:42 PM

LONG BEACH, Calif., Sept. 22 (UPI) -- A California man has been charged with smuggling rare iguanas from Fiji in his prosthetic leg.

Agents for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said they found four of Fiji Island banded iguanas in a July raid on the home of Jereme James, 33, of Long Beach, who was indicted Friday.

James allegedly told an undercover agent he trapped three of the endangered reptiles during a trip to Fiji in 2002, smuggled them into the United States in a compartment in his prosthetic leg and then sold them for $32,500, The Los Angeles Daily News reported Saturday.

James has been charged with one count of smuggling and faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

© 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Order reprints



Additional News Stories
COL BKB: Cincinnati 68, Maryland 57 (16 min)
Most Americans vitamin D deficient (20 min)
NFL concussion study chairmen resign (23 min)
COL BKB: Syracuse 88, Cornell 73 (27 min)
Federer assures No. 1 status with ATP win (45 min)
STDs up in Scotland
N.Y. court rules for Nets arena builder
fark
"Godfather of Spam" sentenced to 51 months of meat in his can
Goodnight Keith Moon
"Gunfight at Chicken World Leaves One Dead." Looks like someone went off half-cocked, but I think...
RCMP looking for millions in gold missing from Canada's mint have concluded that there was no theft...
Star Wars Facebook status updates. Something something Dark Side something something
"Polish-your-resume" unlikely: I don't recall leaking secret information about my political enemies....