BANGOR, Maine — A Canadian man wanted for more than three years for smuggling narwhal whale tusks across the Maine border and selling them illegally to Americans pleaded not guilty Friday in U.S. District Court to charges including conspiracy and money laundering.
Gregory Robert Logan, 58, of Woodmans Point, New Brunswick, was turned over to American authorities by Canadian officials Friday morning at the Calais border crossing, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
U.S. District Court Judge John Woodcock ordered he be held temporarily without bail. A detention hearing is to be held Wednesday on the prosecution’s motion Logan be held without bail pending the outcome of the case.
Dressed in a gray T-shirt and jeans, Logan told the judge he understood the charges and the penalties that could come from a conviction before entering his not-guilty pleas.
A narwhal is a medium-size whale native to Arctic waters.
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
The male narwhal’s ivory tusk spirals counterclockwise from its head and can be as long as 8 feet, according to NationalGeographic.com. Scientists have speculated it is prominent in mating rituals, perhaps used to impress females or battle rival suitors.
Logan allegedly obtained the tusks in Canada and sold them on the Internet to collectors living in the U.S. He 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, according to court documents. The buyers then sold them to others in the U.S.
Logan allegedly mailed the tusks to customers from FedEx in Bangor. He had buyers send payments to a post office box in Ellsworth and deposited the money in branches of Machias Savings Bank.
The former Mountie was extradited Thursday after losing an appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada to prevent being sent to Maine to face charges, according to CBC News.
Logan had sought “to appeal the extradition order, arguing he was unaware he could also face charges in the U.S. when he pleaded guilty to the offen[s]es under the Wild Animal and Plant protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act,” CBC News said.
Canada had 45 days to turn Logan over to U.S. authorities, according to the CBC News report.
Logan pleaded guilty in October 2013 to charges connected to the smuggling operation in a Canadian court. He was fined $385,000 and sentenced to eight months of probation, which included four months of home confinement.
Logan was indicted in November 2012 by a federal grand jury with Jay Gus Conrad, 69, of Lakeland, Tennessee, and Andrew J. Zarauskas, 63, of Union, New Jersey. Logan’s wife, Nina Logan, 55, of Woodmans Point, New Brunswick, also was indicted. Charges against her are expected to be dismissed in the U.S. as the charges filed against her in Canada were dropped.
Conrad pleaded guilty in January 2014 to charges in connection with the operation.
He remains free on $10,000 cash bail. His sentencing has been delayed several times over the past year because of illness.
Zarauskas was found guilty in February 2014 by a jury for his role in the operation. Eleven months later he was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay a $7,500 fine. Zarauskas also was ordered to forfeit $85,089, six narwhal tusks ranging from 35½ inches to 95 inches in length, and a rare narwhal skull that had two tusks instead of one.
The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last month denied the appeal of his conviction, according to the court system’s electronic case filing system.
He is incarcerated at the Federal Corrections Institute in Butner, North Carolina, a medium-security facility, according to the U.S. Bureau of Prisons inmate locator. The earliest date Zarauskas could be released is Sept. 15, 2017.
The maximum penalty for all three men is up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000.