Redmond Business Owner Pleads Guilty To Ivory Trafficking Charges

REDMOND, WA — A Redmond antique shop and one of its owners pleaded guilty Thursday to violations of the Washington Animal Trafficking Act, according to the Attorney General's office.

International Antique & Art Importers, which operates Ming's Asian Gallery and Antiques, pleaded guilty to a felony charge and will pay $8,000 in fines, prosecutors said. Owner Doreen Russell pleaded guilty on a gross misdemeanor charge, and a judge sentenced her to two years' probation, 240 hours of community service, and ordered her to pay $6,000 in fines.

Voters approved the law by a wide margin in 2015, making it a criminal offense to sell, buy, trade or distribute items from endangered or vulnerable species, including certain elephants, rhinoceroses, tigers, lions, leopards, cheetahs, pangolins, marine turtles, sharks and rays.

"Tens of thousands of elephants are killed every year for their ivory," said Attorney General Bob Ferguson. "Washingtonians overwhelmingly passed an initiative to ban animal trafficking and hold traffickers accountable. I will enforce the will of the people and prosecute businesses that illegally traffic in ivory and other products of endangered species."

According to the Attorney General's office, the case was opened in 2018 after an off-duty detective from the state Department of Fish & Wildlife visited the shop, then located in Redmond, and saw several items that appeared to be made out of ivory. The detective returned with another officer and purchased a few items to study.

State and federal wildlife officers later executed a search warrant and seized more than 100 items from the business. Testing confirmed several were made out of elephant ivory and one was made of sea turtle shell, investigators said.

"Our detectives specialize in investigating illegal trade in wildlife and natural resources, and WDFW officers are present at our ports, wholesale dealers and retail stores," said Paul Golden, deputy chief with the Department of Fish & Wildlife. "We applaud the Attorney General's Office for working so diligently on this case. Working together to enforce this law sends a clear message that we will not tolerate the illegal trafficking of products from threatened or endangered species."

Washington's law prohibiting the sale of such items went into effect in 2016 and includes a few narrow exceptions. In most cases, selling, buying, trading or otherwise distributing the parts of endangered or vulnerable animals is a felony if the items are valued at $250 or more. Ferguson filed the first charges related to the new law in 2019.