ROSEMEAD : Man Arrested in Purchase of Bear Parts Denies Guilt

A businessman arrested after he allegedly bought thousands of dollars worth of bear gallbladders from undercover agents denied Friday that he was involved in illegal animal parts trading.

“I’m not a dealer,” Joseph Chang said in a brief telephone interview from his business, AA Radiator Corp. “I don’t know what happened. In court, I will say everything.”

Chang, 39, was arrested Thursday on a warrant charging him with three felony counts of purchasing bear parts. He was released that day after posting $10,000 bail at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Temple City substation, jail Officer Marilyn Valdez said.

Chang’s arrest capped an 18-month investigation that included four other arrests in California and several dozen in Colorado and Utah, said Lt. Eddie Watkins of the California Department of Fish and Game.

Wildlife officials say the Los Angeles area has become a hub for distributing bear gallbladders, which fetch $265 per gram. The gallbladders come from bears killed in Colorado, Utah and Alaska.

The gallbladders, officials say, are sold to Asian nations, where they are considered to have medicinal value in treating high blood pressure, stomach problems and other ailments. Asian bears are virtually extinct, Watkins said.