Man Jailed For Taking Succulents From CA Parks For Exportation

Los Angeles CA

24 January, 2022

2:58 PM

Description

CALIFORNIA — A South Korean man is set to serve two years in federal prison for attempting to illegally export at least $150,000 worth of succulents plucked from state parks in Northern California. Byungsu Kim, 46, was sentenced Thursday and ordered to pay $3,985 in restitution to the state to refund all the stolen plants, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release. In October of 2018, Kim and co-defendants Youngin Back, 47, and Bong Jun Kim, 46, reportedly drove from Los Angeles International Airport to Crescent City to harvest and later remove numerous Dudleya plants from DeMartin State Beach in Klamath, California, and from Del Norte Coast Redwoods State Park. "Kim knew the taking of the Dudleya plants was unlawful. He had conducted internet searches on his smartphone for 'poaching succulents' and 'dudleya' and had read a press release regarding the arrest and convictions of three other Dudleya poachers," according to the news release. Kim was arrested in South Africa in October 2019 and pleaded guilty in July 2019 to one count of attempting to export plants taken in violation of state law. He served four months in federal custody and was released in October 2019 after Judge Wu imposed a sentence of time served, officials said. After his release, Kim fraudulently obtained another South Korean passport in January 2019 by claiming that he had lost his passport. Kim then fled to Mexico on foot through the Tijuana-San Ysidro border crossing. Using his new passport, Kim then flew with Back from Mexico to China, and then flew from China to South Korea, according to the release. Kim was extradited to the U.S. from South Africa after pleading guilty to the charges and has remained in federal custody since October 2020. "[Kim's] willful criminal conduct in October 2019 was not an isolated event: he had carried out the same scheme repeatedly in California," prosecutors wrote in the sentencing memorandum. "[Kim] had traveled to the United States more than 50 times since 2009. Customs records show that he was travelling for succulent-related purposes and often with tens of thousands of dollars in cash (sometimes declared, sometime not) and fake phytosanitary certificates.: Bong Jun Kim pleaded guilty in July 2019, while Back remains a fugitive, officials said.