A federal grand jury has indicted an Alaska man on charges of smuggling ivory.
James Terrance Williams, who does business in Skagway as Inside Passage Arts, faces 10 counts of smuggling goods into and out of the country, violating the Lacey Act that bans trafficking in a variety of illegal items, and falsely labeling goods.
Williams, 67, could not be reached Friday at the number listed for his business. Online court documents do not list his attorney.
He is scheduled for arraignment Nov. 1 in Anchorage, said Chloe Martin, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Alaska.
Williams in October 2014 and March 2016 exported raw, unworked, walrus ivory tusks from Alaska to Indonesia for carving, violating federal law, prosecutors said in an announcement
He later smuggled carved ivory back to the United States, disguised the transactions by falsifying records and sold illegally imported carved ivory pieces, according to the indictment.
The maximum sentence on the charges is 10 years in prison and fines of $250,000.
