Posted on 01/29/2014 2:31:14 PM PST by nickcarraway
He instructed an overseas distributor to label the fish as silver tetras, prosecutors said
A New York City man is accused of smuggling nearly 40,000 piranhas into the U.S. by having them mislabeled as harmless aquarium fish, prosecutors said.
Joel Rakower and his fish distribution company pleaded guilty Wednesday and agreed to pay more than $70,000 in fines and restitution.
Authorities said Rakower admitted buying the aggressive fish from a Hong Kong supplier that he instructed to falsely label the shipments as silver tetras, a more common household fish.
He began importing the mislabeled fish in 2011, shortly after New York City prohibited possession of piranhas, and continued through 2012, prosecutors said.
In all, he smuggled 39,548 piranhas, worth $37,376, that were then sold to fish retailers throughout the U.S.
Twenty-five states either ban or regulate piranhas, which could pose a serious risk to ecosystems if they got into native waters.
Everything invasive ends up in Florida.
Democrats?
He was that creepy. Fortunately, I had other friends around me. At the end of the semester, he asked me out. I said I had a really loving boyfriend who was a Marine (lied through my teeth on that one). It worked though...
“...It could be a lot worse than...”
It would be catastrophic. They’d multiply fast, and destroy edible/sport fish. Like the Snakeheads that some other asswipe snuck into the country from Asia some years ago. They are horrible little bastards that ate the living hell out of bass, trout, etc., and caused major damage.
Drop him in a tank with his moneymakers.
“...has any particular religious preference?...”
With a name like “Joel Rakower” he sounds less like “Religion of Pieces” and more like a worshipper of “The Almighty Greenback”.
But you never know with folks nowadays. Anything is possible.
Some people depend on the waterways for food.
I wonder he does now, Pit Bull fighting?
Sick people in the world...
Damn straight...
There already are some piranha out there. I remember article about a few piranha in a lake in Pennsylvania and other places.
Well, that’s pretty unpleasant. Maybe the climate keeps their reproductive rate down.
These are tropical animals incapable of surviving temps below 50 centigrade. There is no place in the territorial where they can survive 1 year.
“What law firm were they going to work for?”
They were hired by the EPA and IRS
PA is my home state... that is truly disturbing.
RE Reproduction:
Since they’re tropical and are used to warmer water, you may have a point there. Don’t know enough about them other than they’re voracious predators when they are have the numbers.
Seriously, they can’t survive below 122F?
Apparently, piranhas are the food of choice for albino sewer alligators.
One fool thought it would be a good idea to do the same at the waters top of the aquarium. He quickly learned that was a bad idea. :).
Whiskey consumed in great quantities has a tendency to cloud better judgement.
...isn’t there a documentary that proved that Piranhas can live in 45 degree water...and some where surviving winters by swimming next to natural springs that empty into a lake area???
technically - they could be released in the Mississippi River and migrate south for the winter - and wreak havoc during the summer...
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