BANGOR, Maine — A New Jersey man found guilty last year of conspiracy and money laundering in connection with a narwhal tusk smuggling operation was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison on Monday in U.S. District Court.
Andrew J. Zarauskas, 61, of Union, New Jersey, also was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $7,500 fine. He was ordered to forfeit $85,089, six narwhal tusks, ranging from 35 ½ inches to 95 inches in length, and a rare narwhal skull that had two tusks rather than one.
A narwhal is a medium-size whale native to Arctic waters.
Zarauskas was ordered to begin serving his sentence on April 10 to give him time to address health problems and earn money to pay the fine.
He did not address the court Monday.
Narwhals are listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act and are covered by the international Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. It is illegal to import parts of the narwhal into the U.S. without a permit and without declaring the parts at the time of importation to U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“You should know, Mr. Zarauskas, that the narwhal are worth more to the rest of us alive than they are to you dead,” U.S. District Judge John Woodcock told the defendant shortly before imposing the sentence.
Woodcock said that he imposed the 33-month sentence to send a warning to others that smuggling the body parts of protected species would result in prison terms.
Zarauskas faced up to 20 years in federal prison. Under the prevailing federal sentencing guidelines, Zarauskas faced between 33 and 41 months in prison.
He also could have been fined $500,000 or twice the value of the money involved in the offense, whichever is greater. Woodcock found the retail value of the 33 tusks Zarauskas sold to be nearly $190,000. The judge estimated that the New Jersey man’s profit from the sales was $90,000.
The jury of nine men and three women found Zarauskas guilty on Feb. 14, 2014, on one count each of conspiracy to smuggle goods into the United States, conspiracy to launder money, smuggling goods into the U.S. and money laundering.
Zarauskas has remained free on bail since then and will continue on bail until his report date.
Jurors deliberated for three hours and 20 minutes after a 3 ½ day trial in federal court.
Evidence presented during the trial showed that Zarauskas paid $35 an inch for the tusks and sold them for $70. He paid the Canadian from whom he purchased them a total of more than $85,000 between November 2002 and July 2008 for what was estimated to be 33 tusks.
Federal prosecutor Todd S. Mikolop, who works in the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, recommended Woodcock sentence Zarauskas to a sentence within the guideline range.
He told the judge Monday that an aggravating factor in the case was the fact that Zarauskas acted as a confidential informant for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in a case not involving narwhal tusks while conducting his illegal activities.
Mikolop declined to comment on the sentence after the hearing. However, his boss,
Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Environment and Natural Resources Division, issued a press release Monday afternoon.
“The Justice Department is committed to the fight to save the world’s protected wildlife species, many of which are under sustained attack by poachers and wildlife traffickers,” Cruden said. “We are particularly grateful to our federal and Canadian law enforcement partners for unraveling this scheme to traffic in narwhal tusks and for bringing Zarauskas and his co-conspirators to justice.”
Defense attorney Stephen Smith of Lipman Katz in Augusta recommended his client serve a two-year sentence because of his age and health problems.
“Mr. Zarauskas intends to appeal both his sentence and conviction,” Smith said after the sentencing in an email. “He maintains his innocence. As the trial evidence showed, he was quite valuable to the government in helping them convict several individuals of federal wildlife violations. Mr. Zarauskas assisted the government because he, himself, feels strongly about the need to protect endangered species. He is bewildered as to why the government would focus its attention on an underemployed [New Jersey] construction worker when the person the government maintains actually smuggled the Narwhal tusks goes unpunished.”
Smith said that the Canadian man who brought the tusks surreptitiously across the border has not yet been extradited to the U.S. to face charges.
Zarauskas was indicted in November 2012 by a federal grand jury with Jay Gus Conrad, 68, of Lakeland, Tennessee; Gregory Robert Logan, 57, and his wife, Nina Logan, 54, both of Woodmans Point, New Brunswick, and Grande Prairie, Alberta.
Gregory Robert Logan obtained the tusks in Canada and sold them on the Internet to Zarauskas, Conrad and others, according to trial testimony.
Logan then concealed them under his truck and in a hidden compartment in a trailer he pulled behind the truck and crossed the border without the required permits and paperwork. Conrad and Zarauskas then sold them to others in the U.S.
Logan mailed the tusks to Zarauskas and other customers from FedEx in Bangor. He had buyers send payments to a post office box in Ellsworth and deposited the money in branches of the Machias Savings Bank.
The male narwhal’s ivory tusk spirals counter-clockwise from its head and can be as long as 8 feet, according to NationalGeographic.com. That spiral marking was notable on the 8-foot long tusk shown to the jury during the prosecution’s opening statement. Scientists have speculated it is prominent in mating rituals, perhaps used to impress females or battle rival suitors.
The narwhal is protected in the U.S. by the Marine Mammal Protection Act. In Canada, it is protected in the Convention in International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. Only the Inuit may legally harvest the whale in Canada. The Inuit also may legally sell the tusks in Canada.
The cranium and tusks presented as evidence at Zarauskas’ trial will be retained as evidence for the prosecution of the Logans. After their cases have been resolved, the items would not be forfeited to the government but could be used for educational or scientific purposes. Where they would go most likely would be up to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Conrad pleaded guilty a year ago to one count each of conspiracy to smuggle goods into the U.S., conspiracy to launder money and smuggling goods into the U.S. He is free on bail awaiting sentencing, set for March 13 in Bangor.
A former Canadian Mountie, Logan completed four months of home confinement on Feb. 1, 2014. He was ordered to pay a $385,000 fine — the highest ever issued in Canada for violating that country’s wildlife laws, according to Canadian news reports. Logan also was prohibited from possessing or purchasing marine mammal products for a period of 10 years.
The ex-Mountie is awaiting extradition to the U.S., according to court documents filed in federal court in Bangor.
Nina Logan has not been arrested on the U.S. charges. Charges against her in Canada were dismissed in 2013 after Gregory Robert Logan pleaded guilty in New Brunswick to crimes connected to the smuggling operation.
Conrad and the Logans, if convicted, each face the same penalty Zarauskas did.