SALT LAKE CITY – A brother and sister from Utah have been indicted on charges of illegally importing a rare boa constrictor from Brazil.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Utah says 39-year-old Jeremy Stone and his 34-year-old sister, Keri Stone, brought the snake into the country through a shipment that went through Miami.
Authorities say the Stones paid thousands of dollars to administrators at a Brazilian zoo to get the white leucistic boa. They say the two falsely reported the snake had been caught in the wild in Guyana.
Prosecutors say Jeremy Stone bred the boa constrictor with other snakes at his reptile business in Lindon, about 40 miles south of Salt Lake City. He then sold the offspring for tens of thousands of dollars.
Los Angeles attorney Larry Bakman says Jeremey Stone denies the allegations. It wasn't immediately clear if Keri Stone has an attorney.
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