A woman from China pleaded guilty on Friday for attempting to smuggle 29 eastern box turtles

A woman from China pleaded guilty on Friday for attempting to smuggle 29 eastern box turtles, a protected species, across the border into Canada by kayak. Wan Yee,  41, was arrested on the morning of June 28 at an Airbnb in Canaan as she was about to get into an inflatable kayak with a duffle bag on Lake Wallace. Agents had been notified by Royal Canadian Mounted Police that two other people, including a man who was believed to be her husband, had started to paddle an inflatable watercraft from the Canadian side of the lake toward the United States. The agents searched her heavy duffle bag and found 29 live eastern box turtles individually wrapped in socks. Eastern box turtles are known to be sold on the Chinese black market for $1,000 each. She is scheduled to be sentenced in December and faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.