A Hogansburg woman has pled guilty and was sentenced in Federal District Court for participating in the smuggling of thousands of endangered animals from the U.S. to Canada.

Olivia Terrance, 28, pled guilty to conspiracy to smuggle over 18,000 endangered and threatened reptiles from the United States into Canada in 2009 and 2010.

Judge Norman A. Mordue of the Northern District of New York sentenced Terrance to 18 months in jail to be followed by three years of supervised release.

Terrance smuggled turtles and reptiles worth hundreds of thousands of dollars into Canada where they were sold to retailers and collectors, according to a press release from the court.

She was caught when law enforcement followed her by car and helicopter after she received a shipment of wildlife and transported it by boat into Canada, authorities said.

This case was investigated by the United States Fish & Wildlife Service, with assistance from the Department of Homeland Security, the Canadian Wildlife Service, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canada Border Services Agency, and the Mohawk Nation Tribal Police.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Craig A. Benedict.