Lewis

I. BACKGROUND

A. The Importation of Protected Reptiles

In 1994, the Fish and Wildlife Service constructed a faux- wildlife importation and wholesale business called “PacRim” as part of an elaborate sting aimed at trapping prominent Malaysian commercial wildlife dealer, Keng Liang “Anson” Wong. Spearheading the investigation for the government was Special Agent George Morrison, operating under the alias “George Ross.” To establish a rapport with Wong, Morrison, through the PacRim shell, purchased several legal shipments of reptiles for importation to the United States.

The government, however, had no need for the accumulat- ing reptiles purchased from Wong and sought a purchaser for the animals. To locate a buyer, PacRim took out an advertise- ment in the appropriately named Reptiles magazine. Beau Lee Lewis, an eighteen year old aspiring herpetologist, read the announcement and contacted Morrison in late 1995 to obtain a price list for the reptiles for sale.

Over the next three years, Morrison and Lewis spoke fre- quently both over the phone and during Morrison’s visits to the home of Lewis’s parents. Their relationship at first cen- tered around the legal purchase and…