SAN DIEGO

A Louisiana pet supplier was sentenced to two years in jail Friday for his role in a scheme to smuggle threatened parrots into the United States from Mexico.

U.S. District Judge Judith N. Keep imposed the sentence on Gregory B. Jones, 61, who operates a commercial pet distribution center in Lacombe, La. He was also fined $140,000--the approximate amount U.S. authorities spent to eradicate an extremely contagious avian disease traced to the illegally imported birds.

Jones is one of the nation’s largest pet-bird distributors and one of the principal importers of yellow-naped Amazon parrots, the species involved in this case, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Charles S. Crandall, who prosecuted the case.

Jones’ son, Frederick Jones, 29, was sentenced to one month in jail.

In November, both men had entered guilty pleas in connection with the case. Gregory Jones pleaded guilty to two felony counts of receiving protected wildlife and making false statements to a federal officer; his son pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor arising from the scheme.

The guilty pleas are the latest developments in a criminal prosecution arising from an extensive investigation of an exotic bird-smuggling ring that operated along the U.S.-Mexico border. Four others implicated in the smuggling ring have already been convicted of various related crimes, and two other suspects are awaiting trial in San Diego.

The ring is suspected of having brought thousands of birds into the United States from Mexico in recent years, prosecutors say.