Woman pleads guilty to trying to smuggle 29 turtles across a Vermont lake into Canada by kayak

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Woman pleads guilty to trying to smuggle 29 turtles across a Vermont lake into Canada by kayak

2024-10-12 04:58 Last Updated At：05:00

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A woman from China pleaded guilty on Friday to attempting to smuggle 29 eastern box turtles, a protected species, across a Vermont lake into Canada by kayak.

Wan Yee Ng, 41, was arrested on the morning of June 28 at an Airbnb in Canaan as she was about to get into an inflatable kayak with a duffle bag on Lake Wallace, according to a Border Patrol agent's affidavit filed in federal court.

Agents had been notified by Royal Canadian Mounted Police that two other people, including a man who was believed to be her husband, had started to paddle an inflatable watercraft from the Canadian side of the lake toward the United States, according to court documents.

The agents searched her heavy duffle bag and found 29 live eastern box turtles individually wrapped in socks, the affidavit states. Eastern box turtles are known to be sold on the Chinese black market for $1,000 each, the affidavit stated.

Her cellphone was seized, and a search by law enforcement found communications showing that she tried to smuggle the turtles into Canada so that they could eventually be sold for a profit in Hong Kong, according to the plea agreement. Ng, from Hong Kong, was living in Canada.

She pleaded guilty on Friday to one count of unlawfully attempting to export and send 29 eastern box turtles out of the United States, contrary to law. VTDigger first reported on the plea deal.

She is scheduled to be sentenced in December and faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.

What to know as Florida residents begin cleaning up after Hurricane Milton

2024-10-12 04:48 Last Updated At：04:51

Cleanup from Hurricane Milton was underway Friday as residents returned home after the storm barreled across Florida, spawning tornadoes, knocking out power to millions, damaging homes and leading to hundreds of rescues.

At least 10 people died in the storm, and there was significant damage in areas, but Milton wasn't as bad as had been feared. Flooding from Milton’s heavy rains was still causing problems as rescues of people and animals stranded in rising waters continued.

Gov. Ron DeSantis warned people not to let down their guard and to be aware of hazards, including downed power lines and flooded areas.

The storm roared into Florida mid-week as some communities were still dealing with damage from devastating Hurricane Helene two weeks ago. President Joe Biden was set to visit areas impacted by Milton on Sunday.

Follow The Associated Press’ coverage of tropical weather at https://apnews.com/hub/hurricanes.

Milton came ashore Wednesday evening as a Category 3 storm near Siesta Key, a barrier island of white sand beaches on the Gulf Coast.

The storm made landfall about 70 miles (110 kilometers) south of the Tampa Bay area, sparing the densely populated area a direct hit.

As the storm made its way across Florida to the Atlantic Ocean it downed power lines and trees and flooded some neighborhoods. Even before making landfall, it spawned deadly tornadoes.

In St. Petersburg, Milton toppled a crane working on a 46-story building and destroyed the roof of Tropicana Field, home to the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team.

On Friday afternoon, over 2 million customers in Florida were still without power, according to poweroutage.us.

Officials were reporting at least 10 deaths as of Friday.

Six people were killed when a tornado hit the Spanish Lakes Country Club Village near Fort Pierce, on the Atlantic Coast, authorities said.

In Volusia County, a 79-year-old woman in Ormond Beach and a 54-year-old woman in Port Orange died after trees crashed into their homes, the sheriff's office said.

In Tampa, police said the body of a woman in her 70s was found Thursday morning under a large tree branch.

Maintenance worker Bruce Kinsler, 68, was killed in Polk County as he tried to clear a tree that had fallen into a roadway, a county official said. Kinsler was struck by a truck driven by a county employee who was arriving to help.

Human-caused climate change gave a significant boost to Milton, intensifying the storm’s rainfall by 20% to 30% and strengthening its winds by about 10%, scientists said in a new flash study.

World Weather Attribution researchers said Friday that without climate change, a hurricane like Milton would make landfall as a weaker Category 2, which is not considered a “major” storm, instead of a Category 3.

Climate change also boosted Helene’s wind and rain. The two storms made an otherwise unusually quiet Atlantic hurricane season roar to life.

And, scientists warn, the season is far from over. So far five hurricanes have made landfall in the U.S. — and the record is six.

Jeff Masters, meteorologist for Yale Climate Connections, said the record may be matched since tropical cyclone activity is expected to be above-average for the rest of October and November. The season officially ends Nov. 30.

Three major theme parks in the Orlando area — Walt Disney World, Universal Orlando and SeaWorld — all closed as Milton approached but reopened Friday.

Airports that had ceased operations as the storm neared reopened as well. Orlando International Airport — the nation’s seventh busiest and Florida’s most trafficked — had resumed full operations by Friday, as had Tampa International Airport and Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers.

The back-to-back hurricanes of Helene and then Milton have reshaped the U.S. presidential campaign, just weeks before the Nov. 5 election.

Both Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump have been devoting part of their recent days to tackling questions about the storm recovery effort, and have seen their schedules jumbled.

After Helene, Trump and Harris separately went to Georgia and North Carolina, requiring campaign events elsewhere to be canceled. The hurricanes are also forcing basic questions about who as president would best respond to deadly natural disasters, a once-overlooked issue that has become an increasingly routine part of the job.