LONG BEACH : Man Guilty of Smuggling Endangered Tarantulas

A jury deliberated only half an hour Thursday before convicting a Long Beach man of trading in protected wildlife for smuggling 600 Mexican red-kneed tarantulas from Mexico to the United States.

Stephen Earl Cook, 46, will be sentenced on the five counts July 25. He faces up to 25 years in prison, Assistant U.S. Atty. Nathan J. Hochman said, declining to specify how much time he would recommend. Hochman had argued that Cook was a “wildlife predator” who posed a greater danger to the tarantulas than their natural enemies--grasshopper mice or tarantula hawks.

The species is considered so endangered that Mexico has never issued a permit allowing the spiders to be taken out of the country, Hochman said. However, they are not sufficiently near extinction to require steps to breed them back from disappearing altogether.

Cook’s attorney, Sean Kennedy, had argued that his client did not know that the species was protected. But Hochman said Cook had been a reptile and spider dealer for 35 years. In 1986, Cook was charged in a civil case with Endangered Act violations, and as part of the case settlement, signed papers stating he was familiar with its provisions.

Hochman said Cook went to the forests around Colima and bought tarantulas from locals, paying $3 each. He put them in cups, brought them in suitcases across the border and sold them for up to $50 each. They are worth up to $300 apiece.