Man Shipped 10 Live Rhinoceros Iguanas From Lambertville Post Office, Labeled As 'Toys'

NEWARK, NJ — A Monmouth County man was sentenced Tuesday for sending a package from a Lambertville post office that, though labeled as "toys," turned out to contain 10 live rhinoceros iguanas.

The U.S. Attorney's Office shared the news, saying the package had been destined for Hong Kong and that 44-year-old Jason Ksepka of Farmingdale previously pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Lacey Act by falsely labeling an international shipment of wildlife.

U.S. District Judge Zahid Quraishi in Trenton federal court sentenced him to three years of probation with six months of home confinement.

According to court documents, on Nov. 7, 2017, Ksepka shipped a package found to contain 10 live rhinoceros iguanas by U.S. Priority Mail Express from the U.S. Post Office in Lambertville.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources designates rhinoceros iguanas as endangered as of a 2019 report.

Ksepka falsely described the contents of the package as "toys" and the sender as "Luke Jacobs" on a U.S. Postal Service International Shipping Label and Customs Form that accompanied the package, according to court documents.

Destined for Hong Kong, the package was intercepted by U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Inspectors the next day at the mail facility at John F. Kennedy International Airport, where officials recovered the rhinoceros iguanas, all alive, from inside the package.

Someone paid Ksepka $500 to falsely label the package and ship it to Hong Kong, according to investigators. They said that one year prior, the same person had paid Ksepka $500 to ship 10 other rhinoceros iguanas to Hong Kong.

In addition to probation, Judge Quraishi ordered Ksepka to refrain from engaging in the “take” of wildlife (defined by law as harassing, harming, pursuing, hunting, shooting, wounding, trapping, capturing, or collecting wildlife or attempting to engage in such conduct). He is also ordered to refrain from the import, export, transport, sale, purchase or barter of any wildlife.

Ksepka agreed, as part of his plea agreement, to pay a fine of $1,000 to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Lacey Act Reward Fund.

U.S. Attorney Philip Sellinger credited special agents of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Law Enforcement, under the direction of Resident Agent in Charge Sean Mann, with the investigation leading to Tuesday's sentencing. The government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kathleen P. O’Leary of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Government Fraud Unit in Newark.

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