Owner of US Freight Forwarding Company Pleads Guilty to Attempted Export of Exotic Birds

The owner of a U.S. freight forwarding company pleaded guilty to trafficking in exotic birds after an attempt to illegally export 86 birds, including three falsely labeled macaws, from California to Taiwan, the Justice Department said in a Dec. 16 press release. Paul Tallman, owner of Aerotyme-Inc., worked with William McGinness to ship the birds from New Orleans to California and eventually to Taiwan, the press release said, which would have violated the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The scheme also would have violated a 2015 Taiwanese ban on imports of California birds due to the risk of “highly pathogenic avian flu.”

McGinness and Tallman, along with another defendant, Rene Rizal, created false paperwork to ship the birds from New Orleans, the press release said. McGinness shipped the birds via truck through Aerotyme Inc., the Justice Department said, and the three submitted false veterinary health certificates saying the birds were disease-free. Federal authorities seized 14 birds before they were exported.

Tallman faces a maximum one-year prison sentence and a $100,000 fine. Rizal and McGinness were also charged and face maximum prison sentences of five years with three years of post-release supervision and a fine of up to $250,000. Wayne Andrews, a bird breeder, and Alex Madriaga, a veterinarian, also face charges in the scheme for helping to create the false documents, and face a maximum one-year prison sentence and a $100,000 fine.