SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - San Francisco prosecutors have charged the owner of a vintage clothing store with attempting to sell coats and other items made of endangered species, including jaguar and snow leopard.
District Attorney George Gascon said Tuesday that 68-year-old Cicely Ann Hansen was charged with nine misdemeanor counts of illegal possession for sale of an endangered species.
Hansen owns Decades of Fashion, a popular vintage clothing store in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury neighborhood.
The case started after authorities received a tip and two wardens posing as customers went to the store and tried on a jaguar coat, priced at $4,500, and an ocelot coat, priced at $850.00.
Two weeks later, wildlife protection officials served a search warrant and seized over 150 items of clothing and accessories made from dead sea turtles, cheetahs, leopards, ocelots, jaguars, seals, pythons and snow leopards.
Hansen denied the charges during a court appearance Tuesday.
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