Kevin Thompson (pastor)

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Kevin Thompson (born 1958 in Jarrow, South Tyneside, UK) is the former pastor of the Bay Area Family Church, a Unification Church congregation located in San Leandro, California.[1] In 2006, he was indicted by a grand jury for violating the Lacey Act, a federal law which criminalizes the sale and purchase of certain protected species.[2] Thompson enlisted his parishioners in a eleven-year-long conspiracy to catch and sell leopard sharks from the San Francisco Bay. At least 465 leopard sharks were sold illegally during the conspiracy to companies in Miami; Chicago; Houston; Romulus, Michigan; Milford, Connecticut; the Netherlands; and the United Kingdom.[3] Federal authorities learned of Thompson's involvement when pet dealers in Florida and Chicago were arrested and gave evidence against him.[4]

In a 2003 sermon, Thompson boasted that members of his congregation had spent a decade catching and selling juvenile leopard sharks to local pet stores.[5] In the same sermon, Thompson stated that he had communicated the shark-catching operation to Sun Myung Moon, the founder and head of the Unification Church, and Moon had become excited upon learning of it.[6] Spokesmen for the Church, however, have denied that the Church knew of or condoned Thompson's activities.[7] Nevertheless, in a non-prosecution agreement with the government, the Church agreed to pay $500,000 of a $1.5 million fund set up to remedy the environmental damage caused by Thompson's poaching.[8]

On January 22, 2007, Thompson was sentenced to a year and a day in prison and, according to the Kevin V. Ryan, who at the time was the United States Attorney for the Northern District of California, five other persons, two of whom are members of the Church, have been charged and have pleaded guilty for participation in the shark smuggling operation.[9] Thompson has also been ordered to pay $100,000 in restitution.[10]

Thompson's crimes gained national and international press attention.

Notes

  1. ^ United States Attorney for the Northern District of California, Press Release, Jan. 23, 2007.
  2. ^ Los Angeles Times, "Moon's Church to Pay in Shark Poaching", Feb. 13, 2007.
  3. ^ Jan. 23, 2007 Press Release, supra.
  4. ^ United States Attorney for the Northern District of California, Press Release, Feb. 8, 2006.
  5. ^ National Public Radio, "Prosecutors Net Leopard-Shark Smugglers", Feb. 13, 2007.
  6. ^ East Bay Express, "The Man vs. Moon", Jan. 31, 2007.
  7. ^ L.A. Times, "Moon's Church to Pay in Shark Poaching," supra.
  8. ^ NPR, "Prosecutors Net Leopard-Shark Smugglers," supra.
  9. ^ Jan. 23, 2007 Press Release, supra.
  10. ^ The Journal (Newcastle-upon-Tyne), "The Minister, the Sharks and $1.2m", Jan. 29, 2007.
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