SC man ordered to pay $15k for trafficking sperm whale parts over 3 years

CHARLESTON, S.C. (WTOC) - One man has been ordered to pay $15,000 after trafficking sperm whale bones, teeth, and other parts for at least three years.

Lauren Deloach, 69, of St. Helena, has been sentenced to 30 days of home confinement and a $15,000 fine for violations of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Lacey Act, according to a press release issued by the U.S. Attorney’s Office today, September 16, 2025.

The release says that evidence obtained in the investigation revealed that Deloach illegally imported, sold, and possessed sperm whale teeth and bones from September 2021, through September 2024.

Deloach knew importing and selling these whale parts was illegal and would falsely label shipments with these products to avoid detection from law enforcement, officials say.

The Government provided the court with two sperm whale teeth and one whale ear bone, which the release states were among the approximately 47 whale teeth and two whale ear bones that Deloach had previously surrendered to law enforcement prior to his guilty plea.

The Government advocated for a substantial fine to be paid to the Cooperative Endangered Species Conservation Fund, also known as the Lacey Act Reward Fund.

United States District Judge David C. Norton agreed and imposed a $15,000 fine on Deloach to be paid to the Lacey Act Reward Fund to serve as a deterrent and assist future wildlife trafficking investigations.

Judge Norton also sentenced Deloach to 30 days home confinement and two years of probation.

The release notes that the sperm whale is native to U.S. waters in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and weighs up to 45 tons.

It can grow 52 feet and live 60 years.

The sperm whale population was decimated by the commercial whaling industry from 1800 to 1987, the release also states.

Studies have shown that these highly socialized animals communicate over great distances and associate in clans defined by the dialect pattern of their sonar clicks.

This case was investigated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elle E. Klein and Winston D. Holliday, Jr. and Department of Justice, Environmental Crimes Section, Trial Attorney Ryan C. Connors are prosecuting the case.