Federal agents say a Daly City man landed in serious trouble this week after he allegedly tried to ship nearly 300 protected turtles to Taiwan. Prosecutors accuse Donald Do and a co-conspirator of gaming the federal permitting system by claiming the animals were captive-bred, then quietly buying wild-caught reptiles from Florida and other states. If the charges stick, they could bring prison time and hefty fines.
According to the Department of Justice, an indictment alleges that Do and an accomplice tried to export 292 loggerhead musk turtles to Taiwan between December 2022 and May 2024. The DOJ says the co-conspirator secured a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service export permit after Do allegedly claimed he had hatched and raised the turtles himself. Prosecutors say Do instead bought musk turtles poached from the wild and told sellers to ship them to San Francisco.
How Investigators Say The Scheme Worked
Federal officials describe the case as part of "Operation Southern Hot Herps," a multi-agency push to catch turtle poachers in the Southeast. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, Homeland Security Investigations, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission teamed up with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on the probe. After the export attempt allegedly fell apart, Do is accused of trying to cover his tracks by telling his co-conspirator he had sold the turtles to buyers inside the United States.
Bay Area Link
Federal filings connect the alleged export attempt to a broader chain of poachers and middlemen who, investigators say, moved wild Florida turtles into Asian pet markets. A Hoodline report from May 8 detailed the arrest of a Louisiana suspect accused of selling thousands of wild turtles to a San Francisco exporter. That earlier reporting helps sketch out the pipeline prosecutors now claim Do tapped into. Investigators say tracking shipments and payments has been key to pulling apart the network behind the trade.
Species Status And Penalties
The loggerhead musk turtle (Sternotherus minor) is native to Alabama, Florida, and Georgia, with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service maintaining a species page that covers its range and how to identify it. According to the Department of Justice, the turtles were added to protected lists in November 2022. The indictment carries a maximum of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each of the conspiracy and Lacey Act counts. A bond hearing for Do is scheduled for May 21, and a status conference is set for July 31, according to court filings cited by prosecutors.
Legal Implications
Prosecutors filed the case under the Lacey Act, a cornerstone wildlife law that makes it a crime to file false paperwork or move animals across state or national borders when they were taken in violation of state rules. As the San Francisco Chronicle notes, investigators this spring have unsealed a string of turtle-related indictments built on a similar formula: poachers in the Southeast, middlemen laundering shipments with bogus captive-breeding claims, and export permits riding on that false narrative. The charges in the indictment remain allegations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.
