Guyanese vet fingered in smuggling rare snake to US

Jeremy Stone of Lindon, Utah, was photographed with an albino boa constrictor for a profile that ran in the New York Times in 2011. (Djamila Grossman/New York Times photo)

A Guyanese veterinarian has been accused of aiding two Utah siblings in allegedly smuggling a rare boa constrictor from Brazil to the United States, where the brother and sister duo has been charged with several criminal offences.

Jeremy Stone, 39, and Keri Ann Stone are charged in a four-count indictment with conspiracy to unlawfully import the snake into the United States; unlawfully importing the snake into the country; transporting the snake knowing it was imported contrary to law; and making and submitting false records for wildlife imported into the United States, according to an indictment.

The snake was smuggled from Brazil to Guyana then to